Teaching Grammar To Intermediate Level Students The Conditional Sentences

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INTRODUCTION

The role of grammar in teaching foreign languages ​​had variations throughout history depending on a large extent of language and learning theories which appeared in accordance with different teaching methods. Thus, the method of grammar-translation, based on the teaching of Latin and whose main objective was the study of the foreign language in order to read the literature written in that language, emphasized the deductive analysis of grammatical rules and their subsequent application to translation exercises. This method, according to which the learning of a language consisted mainly in the memorization of morphological and syntactic rules, emphasized the grammar instruction. In the mid-nineteenth century, however, voices rejected such teaching, such as those of Gouin, Saveur, Victor and Sweet, who proposed direct or natural methods based on the primacy of oral versus written language. Concerning these methods, grammatical rules were presented in an inductive way, they being presented after students had already considered the grammar points according to oral or written contexts.

Already in the present century, so-called structuralist and audio-lingual methods, based on a structuralist conception of the language and on behavioral theories of learning, emerged with great growth. According to these methods, the learning of a language consisted in the mastery of language elements and of the rules by which those elements are combined: phonemes in morphemes, morphemes in words, words in sentences and sentences in sentences. One also conceived to learn a language as a mechanical process of habit formation, which in practice led to the memorization of dialogues and the realization of various types of mechanical grammar exercises such as repetition, transposition, expansion and so on which were, in fact, the essential components of education.

Learning foreign languages (such as English) is an aspect that involves going beyond direct instruction and creating rich contexts with multiple opportunities (affordances) so that students with different abilities can intervene and in which grammar reflection is also given in various scenarios. It implies a conception of grammar not only at formal level, but integrated by the morphosyntactic, semantic and pragmatic aspects.

The present paper is divided into three parts, respectively the scientific one, the methodical one and the research one. In this respect, the scientific part contains two chapters referring to general aspects regarding teaching grammar activities, as well as information about conditional sentences. In order to realize the first part of this study, I will use specialty literature and other various bibliographic resources.

The transition to part two is represented by the representation of methodical aspects. Thus, it will include suggestion for methodology, as well as the steps for creating a lesson plan or a test for assessment, with related examples.

The research part consists in a study that will be realized at two parallel classes. In this respect, the study will highlight the major importance of teaching English in Romanian schools, but also the manner students of intermediate level understand and are able to apply conditional sentences in different given situations.

PART I

CHAPTER I. GENERAL ASPECTS REGARDING TEACHING GRAMMAR ACTIVITIES

1.1 Grammar instruction. Objectives and relevance

One of the most relevant objectives of applied linguistics today has been and is to adequately situate the role of grammatical explanations in teaching a foreign language. Nowadays, there is a tendency to recognize the interest and importance it represents. After an era in which the indiscrimination grammar teaching was rightly regarded as one of the mistakes made in teaching second languages by excessive prescriptivism or linguistic normativism, behaviorism placed the emphasis on repetition, transformation and so on. According to Liceras (1988), among the objectives of linguistic theory that are important for learning and teaching English as a foreign language is to write a grammar that "the more rigorous and representative the native's competence is, the better we will use it for teaching at all levels, including the preparation of materials and so on. "

It is necessary, before going ahead, to justify the reason for teaching grammar, and secondly, the way and the time of learning. Once the beliefs that a language is learned exclusively by speaking and that all grammatical instruction should be outlawed, it is convenient to bring here the idea of ​​Krashen (1977) on linguistic knowledge as a result of two processes:

1. The acquisition of language as a subconscious process characteristic of the "natural" interiorization of language, typical of children, both the mother tongue and the foreign language.

2. The learning of language: conscious process characteristic of the formal internalization of language that involves feedback, correction of errors and explicit rules. Although, according to Krashen, acquisition is typical of children and adult learning, there is also acquisition in adults who acquire a second language, all of which runs counter to the idea of Lenneberg et al. (1967) that acquisition does not occur after puberty.

It is well known that, to explain the performance of internediate students speaking a foreign language, Krashen proposes the model of the monitor, by which they evaluate their own discourses and their results. The structures learned in grammar instruction enriches those developed by internal processes and thus, it may facilitate the transition to the automatism of structures. The ideal teaching will be the one in which these two processes are possible.

The most modern trends in linguistics applied to the teaching of a foreign language clearly present the idea of ​​the need for grammatical instruction, although not yet everything is said about this great question of formal instruction, since it is necessary to carry out an empirical, serious and rigorous investigation, the exclusively theoretical frame coordinates the controversy that has been raised. Very modernly, it has been pointed out, with respect to linguistic correction, that the grammatical instruction develops the explicit knowledge (learning) that the student improved the levels of implicit knowledge (acquisition), being responsible for the spontaneous productions and, therefore, of the correction .

It is a general conclusion, therefore, that formal instruction helps a faster acquisition and improves implicit knowledge.

What kind of grammar instruction? Systematic or occasional grammar instruction? I believe that a descriptive overview of the whole grammatical system would not be justified even at the higher level of learning, but at this level only a selective overview of the phenomena with particular difficulty, meaning that there is not a parallel in the maternal language.

In the case of intermediate levels it would be convenient to think or explain grammatical reasons for a linguistic fact that should be regrouped with similar ones, so as not to forget that analogy of learning facilitates.

Regarding the level of intermediates, it is advisable to reject grammar instruction, except in minimum doses, contrasted with the language itself. It is necessary to emphasize that in this level these grammar explanations have to be offered in the mother tongue, whereas in the other levels it is preferable to give them in the language of the learning object.

What aspects should the teaching of grammar present? In the grammatical explanation, the student should be provided with not only rules of construction, but rules of use, with the fundamental purpose of perfecting the so-called communicative competence, a broader concept than linguistic competence, which includes a sociolinguistic competence), a discursive one (spoken, written, literary) and a strategic or pragmatic one (subordination of discourse to concrete aims of communication).

Within the analysis of errors that the foreign language teacher must carry out to plan his teaching strategy, recurring errors in a construction that must serve to discover in the mother tongue of the students the reason that explains them. A posterior contrastive analysis seems to be defended by many authors and seems to me better than a priori contrastive analysis, since it sometimes predicts difficulties that they are not, especially in the field of syntax.

Regarding the so-called four language skills, it is clear that grammatical instruction will be most necessary in courses aiming to perfect written expression and comprehension that allow the student to self-monitor the communicative recursion of the language.

The cultural level of the student is a relevant factor in giving greater or less importance to the teaching of grammar. There is no doubt that a university student, and one with graduated studies, who have more or less extensive language skills, will stimulate and use much more grammar explanations than the student with little culture in his own language.

1.2 HOW TO ORGANIZE GRAMMAR ACTIVITIES IN THE CLASSROOM?

The scheme I present here represents a general structure in which a large number of techniques can be included. The activities will be divided into four parts: presentation, isolation and explanation, practice and testing.

Presentation. The new structure must always be presented in context, probably during reading. The aim here is for students to perceive the structure, its form and meaning, in oral texts such as a story or a dialogue. Students will be required to observe the grammatical structure and attempt to decipher the grammatical rule in question by themselves. This is known as deductive learning.

Isolation and explanation. Here we move away from the context and look at the grammatical elements, what they mean, how they work and what rules describe them. When the structure to be treated is particularly complicated for the students, we will have to devote more time to the explanation. However, when the structure is very simple, or analogous to other structures in Spanish, it usually ends quickly.

Practice. The practice includes activities in which students have to handle grammatical structures mechanically and repeatedly. With a structure in which grammatical rules are very complex, we must begin by dedicating some time to manipulate this structure, both in its oral form and in the written one, without focusing on the meaning of the sentences.

This will be done through exercises based on sentences that are only related by the fact that they exemplify the structure that is being practiced. The objective is to familiarize the students with the material, not to explain the new structure. For this teachers will use fill in the gaps (fill in the blanks) or transformation exercises (from interrogative to negative and so on). The value of these exercises is that, thanks to them, the students reflect and learn and reflect on the grammatical rules they are learning. But with these exercises students do not learn or infer meaning. These tasks have limited utility.

Other exercises for practicing structures include both oral and written messages. And although they can not be realized without understanding the meaning of the messages, the production and perception of correct grammatical forms remain the main objective. These types of exercises include: multiple-choice, slot filling, without showing the answers and join with arrows. We still do not use the language to communicate, we simply use it to give correct examples about it. Therefore, these exercises are not communicative, but at least they are not only based on mechanical manipulations. They are, at least, more interesting and effective. Teachers can increase this interest by introducing fun topics and vocabulary.

The third type of exercises that I suggest in this section is, in my opinion, the most productive of all. Their interest is that they are based on the production and understanding of meanings and have a communicative purpose and not just a linguistic one. Through this practice, teachers obtain in exercises that we find as a gap of information or opinion.

When this information is provided, the communication is effective. These activities are usually also based on the production of funny ideas and topics to write about or talk about. For example, the student can discuss or write about all possible answers to a fun dilemma using modal verbs. As we see, the grammatical point is reinforced and the student uses the language to communicate personal and relevant ideas and opinions.

Testing. The assessment is of three types: self- assessment, formal evaluation or formal assessment and continuous or formative assessment.

– Self assessment. Students are tested, to demonstrate to themselves and to their teachers that they have mastered the material they have been learning. The main objective of the assessment should be to offer feedback, because without it, students are not aware of their mistakes and do not learn to correct or reflect on them.

– Formal assesment. It usually consists of the previous review of the students, followed by a written evaluation by the teacher. Students are generally only interested in passing the exam with the best possible grade and, therefore, it is perhaps the least useful of the evaluation mechanisms. For this reason, one may propose here that tests to be as communicative as possible, represented, for example, by multiple-choice exercises followed by writing (e.g. writing a letter to a friend, responding to an article of interest and so on). The listening parts are usually also a good idea.

Most of students assessment is done by the teacher and the students, in an automatic and unconscious way throughout the course. The most valuable feedback is undoubtedly the one that the student receives in the classroom when he uses the foreign language and the one he receives for his homework. Account should be taken of the effectiveness with which he has performed the grammatical tasks, both purely in a formal and communicative manner, his participation and desire to work, as well as his ability to work cooperatively in communicative tasks.

1.3 GRAMMAR TEACHING FROM A COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

The Communicative Approach is also known as Communicative Language Teaching. In this respect, the didactic model is intended to train the student for real communication – not only in the oral, but also in the writing – with other speakers of the foreign language.

At the end of the 1970s, some British linguists – Candlin (1976) and Widdowson (1978), among others – believed that the goal in foreign language learning should be to develop communicative competence and not just the Language competence. At the request of the Council of Europe (1971), European academics joined forces to develop an alternative in line with the social, economic, political and cultural reality of modern Europe; the result was the communicative approach.

For the communicative approach, communication is not a mere product, but rather a process, carried out with a concrete purpose, between concrete interlocutors, in a concrete situation. Therefore, it is not enough for students to assimilate a set of data – vocabulary, rules, functions ; it is also imperative that they learn to use that knowledge to negotiate meaning. In order to do this they must participate in real tasks, in which language is a means to an end, not an end in itself. This implies that important components of communication such as cohesion and coherence must be addressed. The learning of the foreign language is evaluated taking into account how the student develops his communicative competence, which will be analyzed in the following subsection. The communicative method is characterized by being a general teaching approach and not a teaching method with clearly defined class practices. As such, it is often defined by a list of principles or general characteristics.

One of the best known lists is represented by the five characteristics of the communicative method, elaborated by Nunan (1996):

1. Emphasizes communication in the foreign language through interaction.

2. Introduce authentic materials into the learning situation.

3. It gives students opportunities to think about the learning process and not just the language.

4. It gives importance to the personal experiences of the students as elements that contribute to the learning of the classroom.

5. Try to relate the language learned in the classroom with activities performed outside the classroom.

The presentation of the grammar is usually inductive, although some brief grammar explanations are also given when appropriate. The foreign language is a vehicle for communication in class, not just the object of study. Therefore, it is used both in the accomplishment of the tasks as for explanations, clarifications, etc., reserving the mother tongue for special cases.

The repertoire of roles of the teacher is quite broad: analyze the needs of students, create communication situations, organize activities, advise, participate as a partner, observe the development of tasks in the classroom, develop materials, etc. In short, the role of the teacher is to facilitate learning, while fostering cooperation among students, who are the real protagonists; This is, therefore, a student-centered approach.

The antecedents of the development of the Communicative Teaching of the Language can be found in the criticism of the linguist Chomsky (1965) to the structural linguistic theory, that made that in the mid-sixties in the United States and at the end of the same decade in Great Britain, respectively, the audiolinguistic and situational methods.

At the same time, Candlin (1976) and Widdowson (1978) defended the functional and communicative potential of the language based on works in the areas of functional linguistics, sociolinguistics and philosophy.

Wilkins (1972) attempts to analyze the communicative meanings that are necessary to understand and express oneself in a language; he also describes two types of meanings: notional categories (concepts such as time, sequence, place, and frequency) and categories of communicative function (asking, rejecting, offering, or complaining).

The Communicative Approach has been widely accepted during the 1980s and 1990s and is often modeled on traditional, grammar-centered approaches and approaches. In fact, it is an overcoming of previous models, since it does not deny the importance of linguistic competence, but goes further, in search of authentic communicative competence.

Communicative competence, according to Hymes (1971), is the ability of a person to communicate effectively and adequately in a particular speech community; this involves respecting a set of rules that includes both grammar and other levels of linguistic description (lexicon, phonetics, semantics) and rules of language use, related to the socio-historical and cultural context in which it takes place the communication.

In the words of D. Hymes (1971) communicative competence is related to knowing "when to speak, when not, and what to talk about, with whom, when, where, in what form"; That is, it is about the ability to form statements that are not only grammatically correct but also socially appropriate.

In order to develop an adequate theory of language use and to integrate linguistic theory and a theory of communication and culture, it proposes four criteria for describing forms of communication, the application of which to a given expression should allow establishing:

if it is formally possible (and to what extent it is); if it has been issued following certain rules, related both to the grammar of the language and to the culture of the speaking community; if it is feasible (and to what extent it is) by virtue of available means of action;

if the normal conditions of a person (in terms of memory, perception, etc.) allow to emit, receive and process it satisfactorily; if it is appropriate (and to what extent it is) in relation to the situation in which it is used;

if it is adapted to the variables that can occur in the different communication situations. It occurs in reality (and to what extent it is given); if an expression that is formally possible, feasible and appropriate, is effectively used by members of the speech community; In fact, according to Hymes, "something may be possible, feasible, appropriate and not occurring."

In this manner, grammatical competence (first of the four criteria) is integrated into a broader competence. Canale (1983) describes communicative competence as a set of four interrelated sub-competences:

Language competence refers to the ability to produce and interpret meaningful conversations formed according to the rules of language and its conventional meaning. This includes phonology, spelling, vocabulary, and the formation of words and sentences

Sociolinguistic competence, refers to the ability to choose what kind of language to use according to the social context, ie the receiver, the purpose of the communicative act.

Discursive competence is the ability to construct and interpret the message globally, for which cohesion and coherence in discourse is required.

Strategic competence is the ability to use verbal and nonverbal communicative strategies to compensate for deficits that may arise in communication.

To these four sub-competences, J. Van Ek (1986) adds the sociocultural competence. Sociocultural competence refers to the ability to appropriately use words and social strategies to achieve communicative goals.

The term "competition" has evolved to the definition we are currently working on. First was Chomsky (1965) with the competition-action binomial that Hymes (1971) modified adding the social dimension of the use of language and its suitability to the context. Afterwards, Canale (1983) presented a description that integrated four related competences: linguistic, sociolinguistic, discursive and strategic competence, perhaps this description has been the most valid for many years. Later, Van Ek (1986) and Widdowson (1989) added their contributions to the Canale model. Bachman (1990) published a model that presented an organization of the components of the communicative competence from another hierarchical structure.

In language teaching, the concept of communicative competence has had a very broad and very profound influence, both in terms of setting the objectives of the programs as well as classroom teaching practices and evaluation.

Throughout the history of foreign languages methodology, a series of methods have been happening to facilitate, improve and solve the educational and learning problems that indoluble emerged in the educational process. Most methods take as their starting point their ideas, proposals, beliefs, techniques and procedures from previous methods that preceded them, so we can not speak of revolutionary methods, but rather evolutionary methods.

In each method or methodological approach, grammar occupies a certain role: central, peripheral, centered in the process, in the form, in the communication. In some methods, grammar is totally deductive, in others, it is totally inductive or mixed.

The method that best exemplifies the teaching of grammar by deductive procedures is the grammar-translation method. For this method, language is a set of rules that must be observed, studied and analyzed. His usual procedures focused on the deductive analysis of grammar, lexical, morphological and syntactic memorization, the translation of literary texts, contrastive analysis, and others that focused primarily on the teaching of grammar.

As for grammar approached through the natural method, it emphasizes that it is taken to a secondary level, giving more importance to vocabulary and situations, dialogues and oral interaction. There are no grammatical explanations and in many cases recourse to hollow exercises, but completed orally by students. The teaching procedure is inductive, but with limitations.

The grammar shown and presented in the communicative approach has to meet functional criteria, useful for students. It is not, therefore, a matter of teaching grammatical conceptualizations, but rather the form and use for students to use and communicate in English. The aim of communicative approaches is the teaching of the language for communicative purposes, students achieving a communicative competence, while the grammar is fundamental for this objective, since a fundamental part of the communicative competence is the linguistic subcompetence , which integrates the grammar.

Communication and grammar are not contradictory but convergent terms, both being part of the language learning process, and communicative approaches use both deductive and inductive procedures for teaching and learning. Grammar in communicative approaches evolves every day. Progress has been made from grammatical correction to communicative effectiveness, from structural exercise and closed to communicative activities, and from attention to the ways in which they are used. It should be taken into account that the presentation of grammatical rules in English classes, regardless of the procedure adopted, must take into account the profitability, which greatly facilitates generalization, transfer to other situations and allow self-correction.
With regard to grammar teaching, Ishihara and Cohen (2010) suggest that "inductive instruction is generally believed to promote higher order thinking and may be more effective than a deductive approach" (Consequently, educational practices that allow for an inductive discovery process seem very promising for the teaching of grammar).

According to Sampson (1978), the choice of one procedure or another in many cases depends on the methodological approach adopted, but in reality, the teacher must decide one or the other according to the needs and characteristics of his students, since there are students Who need more deductive teaching and others work better with an inductive one, and experience says that in most situations the two procedures are required to learn and assimilate a given grammatical content.

The research carried out by Haight (2007), among others, studies the effectiveness of deductive and inductive approaches guided to the teaching of grammar in classrooms. The results of a priori and a posteriori tests and of eight subsequent questionnaires carried out evaluated the short- and long-term benefits in grammatical knowledge for each condition and indicated a significant difference favoring the guided inductive approach in long-term learning of Grammatical structures in the first levels in the foreign language class.

Another research, the one of Glaser (2013), presents the dichotomy between the deductive and inductive approach and how students can benefit from the combination of the deductive-inductive approach in teaching. This article also makes another dichotomy related to implicit and explicit, resulting in three procedures to carry out the teaching of grammar: the explicit declarative, explicit-inductive process and implicit-inductive process.

According to the combination of the two dichotomies, in the explicit-deductive process, the grammatical rules are presented from the outset, in the explicatory process, the grammatical rules are also introduced, but the foreign language is introduced first and finally, in the implicit process -inductive is part of the language but no grammatical rules are provided. This dichotomy does not contemplate the implicit-deductive process, since as specified in the development of research, a deductive design proceeds from the provision of rules, an element that is, by definition, absent from implicit approaches. This study concludes by giving the explicit-inductive procedure the most beneficial characteristics for students who are learning a foreign language.

Thanks to the contributions of Aski (2005), the inadequate aspects of mechanical exercises are identified, based on indications from other studies that show that mechanical exercises do not facilitate the development of explicit or implicit knowledge. In addition, in this research, alternative activities are proposed for the first stages of language practice, such as VanPatten (2004) structured reference for activities, for the work of allophonic or allomorphic alternations are governed by phonetics, accentuation, or grammatical context and do not convey a meaning, and which direct students to actively practice their understanding of grammatical rules.

One may also briefly discuss the production activities of the last stages of the practice and this study concludes with advice for teachers regarding their expectations of student performance.

Terrell (1986) explains the incorporation of two sources of knowledge in the foreign language of the Natural Approach: acquisition and learning. Acquisition is the process that leads to subconscious knowledge of language, whereas learning involves conscious attention to some parts of the foreign language. According to this research, the natural approach gives predominance to the acquisition, because this is an influential factor in fluency and speech, and explains the origin of the grounds according to which following the natural approach grammar explanations are provided and when the student is provided with adequate input into the foreign language.

In addition to this research, Terrell intends to explore in a deeper way the theory related to foreign languages ​​in the context of his teaching in the classroom and to describe the interaction between acquisition and learning in the classroom following the natural approach to foreign languages teaching.

CHAPTER II. CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

2.1 Background Knowledge

Conditionals are used to express the cause-and-effect or temporal sequences of two events. The typical surface structure of conditionals is a bi-clause consisted of an antecedent clause and a consequent clause, that is, the protasis and apodosis, as they were technically termed. They often undertake the logical meaning – “if p, then q” and perform various functions such as reasoning, making inferences and imaging correlations and so on.

The expressions of conditionals can be manifested in different ways for different intentions. For this reason, the classification of conditionals can be described in various ways.

Classifications of Conditional Types

English conditionals have been analyzed by the semantic relationships and syntactic structures into categories. One will summarize the schemes proposed by several researchers. To begin with, the schemes classified by the syntactic forms are listed first.

Syntactic Categorization Scheme

Conditionals in traditional grammar books are catalogued into three groups: (a) future (b) present and (c) past conditionals, in which the tense forms are oversimplified. Because the tenses and time references are not directly matched in English when expressing hypothetical events, whereupon the future denotation is performed by present tense, while the present conditional is manifested by past tense.

This taxonomy is silent on this asymmetric situation, where confusion may arise from.

Other research in a formal approach is mainly conducted with corpus techniques.

Hwang (1979) surveyed both English written and spoken corpora, and made a frequency-ranking list, where seven patterns were identified. Hwang’s results showed that generic factual, future predictive and present hypothetical or counterfactual are the top three frequent patterns in her investigation. In a purpose to identify the relationship between if-forms and text types, Fulcher (1991) also collected his corpus and found that “if + present simple, present simple/continuous” to be the most frequent pattern. Overall, Fulcher found 20 varieties of 'if-forms' from various written texts. Additionally, Partington (1998) investigated the distribution of conditionals as well. He distinguished the conditionals by the tense markers represented in the bi-structure. The three traditional types aforementioned were found more pervasive and other remote patterns were also noticed. Unfortunately, although it was a corpus-based study, the author just made a list with no further analysis.

Semantic Categorization Scheme

On the other hand, several researchers have attempted to categorize conditionals in terms of their semantic distinction. To begin with, we will draw on Schachter’s (1971) models. There are two primary groups: reality and unreality conditionals. The reality conditionals are “simple conditionals” which include present, past, and generic subtypes. Besides, the author also categorized two unreality conditionals, viz. “future predictives” and “imaginative conditionals”. The subtle distinction between present and generic simple conditionals sheds light on L2 learners’ language development.

Likewise, Katis (1997) also provided an alternative classification scheme. He sorted them into four categories:

(a) Future predictions denote definite situations temporally located in the future.

(b) Indefinite generalizations are atemporal or iterative.

(c) Past conditionals refer to definite situation located in the past. And lastly,

(d) Speech act conditionals are definite situation located in the present. In this model,

Katis did not include the “hypothetical or counterfactual” conditionals (or the so-called “unreal uses”), he focused on the real uses of conditionals. His proposal of dimensions of time reference and definiteness betters comprehension on conditionals. However, definiteness is not a factor which affects the nature of conditionals.

In a broader view, Podlesskaya (1997) separated (a) temporal (b) habitual and (c) epistemic conditionals. Temporal conditionals are further divided into “past”, “present” and “future”. A habitual conditional may be either “unique” or “habitual”, depending on its reference. Epistemic conditionals cover “real”, “counterfactual” and “hypothetical” ones. If we take “habitual” as part of “temporal”, then this model outlines two factors: range of time and degrees of possibility. Inasmuch, Podlesskaya’s proposal offers us a good take-off point to deal with conditionals.

In addition, Athanasiadou & Dirven’s article (1997) marked the first attempt to incorporate pragmatics into classifying conditionals. Pragmatic conditionals are real and interactional, transmitting factual, habitual and routine information. Course of Event Conditionals (CECs) can denote either potentially real, displaying course of event, or factual as “whenever”. Hypothetical conditionals are typified as counterfactuals and non-factual ones. Their model delineates the detailed discrimination criteria of each type, and also provides the connection with tenses.

Recently, some scholars have attempted to tackle the problem of teaching conditionals. Celce- Murcia and Larsen-Freeman’s (1999) grammar book is such an instruction guide. There are three primary types: (a) factual (b) future (predictive) and (c) imaginative (subjunctive) conditionals. The factual conditionals are further distinguished by their relationship with time, i.e., timeless or time-bound, representing habitual or being with implicit or explicit references. The predictives imply strong or weak results while the subjunctives suggest hypothetical or counterfactual denotations.

Among these work, two corpus-based studies, Hwang (1979) and Fulcher (1991), are worthy of more attention.

As shown, conditionals are strongly affected by tense, moods and modals, and their functions, which include temporality, hypotheticality. Accordingly, the importance of linking forms and functions becomes self-evident in investigating conditionals. In next section, we will try to develop an integrative classification scheme, which stresses both the forms and functions of four major conditional types.

An Integrative Scheme

Owing to the fact that the form and function mapping is not strictly one-to-one, we found there is extended overlapping area in these classifications. Moreover, the classifications in these categorization schemes do not explain the subtle distinctions between the tense, mood and their meanings. Due to these deficiencies, a new classification scheme is necessary in this study.

We summarized the classification schemes above and then integrated them in whole. Inspired by Schachter (1971), we also distinguish present and generic simple conditionals, thus the new scheme contains Type1: parallel (viz. generic or habitual) conditionals, and Type2: nonpast real (viz. present simple) conditionals. In addition, the typical “imaginative or hypothetical” types, i.e. Type3: non-past unreal (and past real) conditionals and Type4: past unreal conditionals are also included.

The formal features are easily identifiable, because the verb form changes can be discerned visually. With regards to the semantic functions, several scholars have pinpointed the key elements. For example, Podlesskaya (1997) approached the aspect of meanings from the vantage point of distinguishing ranges of time and degrees of possibility. In this light, we extract two crucial semantic components: temporality and hypotheticality. Furthermore, these two abstract notions are successfully specified by Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999). With their contribution, a more comprehensive and detailed classification, which considers both sides of forms and functions, is developed as below. Table1 illustrates the relationships of the conditional types and their content.

As Table 1 displays, we summarize four conditional types. The Type 1 conditional is termed parallel conditionals, which suggests its parallel structure of surface forms and meanings of habitual and generic implications. The tenses of verb forms are quite consistent with the time reference.

Type1 Parallel

1a. If he comes, she leaves.

If he comes, she is leaving.

1b. If he came, she left.

Type2 conditionals are non-past real conditionals, which can be further classified into subcategories of future predictives with stronger or weaker results. There is no past time reference in this type, the modals in past form only suggest uncertainty.

Type2 Non-past real

If he comes, she will leave. If he comes, she would leave.

If he comes, she is going to leave.

The next two types – Type3 and Type4 are more complicated ones, because they are all involved with the concept of “unreality”. Type3, with past-form verbs and modals, contains two kinds of conditionals: the non-past unreal conditionals and the past real ones (see example3a & 3b). Maule (1988) stressed the notion that "past tense forms in conditionals may refer to real past or unreal non-past events."(p.121). In other words, the Type3 pattern can stand for both past and non-past. Moreover, there is a special construction in this type—the “were structure”. The sub-pattern in question can merely refer to a hypothetical or even counterfactual situation.

Type3 Non-past unreal and past real

3a.& 3b. If he came, she would leave.

3a. If he were to come, she would leave.

Type4 is past unreal conditional, which is embedded by complex verb forms and conveys multi-meanings. In Type4, a counterfactual event or action is expressed in the protasis, and a possible proposition is also formed in the apodosis.

Type4 Past unreal

4. If he had come, she would have left.

Taken as a whole, we identified the conditional types by distinguishing the forms of tense and mood and the functions of temporality and hypotheticality. Tense signals the time reference of past or non-past, while mood expresses the degrees of hypotheticality from real to unreal. We will look into this part in detail later.

Table 1 reveals several important points. First, it is essential to distinguish between real and unreal conditionals, that is, the difference between real and unreal conditionals needs to be clarified. Palmer (1990) claimed that “with real conditionals, the speaker merely states the propositions are linked without expressing his personal belief about the truth of either, while unreal conditionals he has doubts about their truth”. Secondly, there is no counterfactual conditional with future time reference. As regarding the distinction of hypothetical and counterfactual conditionals, Comrie (1986) argued that, counter factuality is implied by conditionals with past time reference rather than those with future reference, because:

One should have greater certainty about past events than about future events, so that a past situation that is nonfactual will probably be counterfactual, whereas a future situation that is nonfactual is quite likely to be just left open (p.90).

Therefore, there are future hypothetical conditionals but no future counterfactual ones in this sense. The non-past unreal conditionals (Type3) are not counterfactual de facto, but only suggest possibility, with which learners may get confused. Thirdly, there are some overlaps in these four types. Because the overlapping parts may cause problems, the overlaps in the conditional constructions should be recognized. Some conditional types have some formal and functional overlaps, for example: the same past tense form may suggest past time or a hypothetical situation, and “unreality” is performed in different forms in past unreal and non-past unreal conditionals. Bearing those in mind, we could presume that great difficulties may generate from the discernible confusion from Table1.

With an eye on the mismatches of formal constructions and meanings in the conditional domain, Fujii (1993) discussed not only the cross-linguistic semantic and structural divergence of English and Japanese conditionals, but also the subtle semantic distinctions in grouping conditional structures. She ascribed learning difficulty to many linguistic and cognitive factors, emphasizing the overlap between the sub-constructions of conditionals, each of polysemy functions, with different linking devices. The polysemous nature of conditionals was recognized and highlighted as the major gap where difficulties stem from.

As such, the nature of conditionals bears some distinctive characteristics, which carry difficulties, from other sentences in many ways. Covitt’s study showed that the serious problems pertaining conditionals include four aspects: oversimplified explanations, form, meaning, and time-tense relationship. The traditional grammar oversimplified conditionals into merely three types, but a survey conducted by Hill reveals that there are nearly 324 distinct tense-modal sequences of conditionals. It shows the considerable varieties of conditional expressions. Nonetheless, focusing on the trivial phenomena will blur our targets, this present study centers on the four basic patterns as shown in Table1.

Based on a markedness framework, Berent (1985) imputed the increases of difficulty to the cognitive and structural complexity of conditionals, including the coordination of the verb forms in each clause, and their instability to retain the normal time reference. He concluded that markedness comes from different dimensions: time reference, unreality, uncertainty and the incorporation of "were".

Likewise, Nayef & Hajjaj (1997) summarized three points in teaching conditionals: "forms of the verbs, the time reference of the verbs, and the meaning of the condition in each of the patterns". They also suggested that the difficulty of conditionals is due to that "the forms of the two verbs in the two clauses depend on

each other", and both verbs contribute to the semantic meaning of the sentence. On the other hand, Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) also claimed that “tense-aspect system”, the “modal auxiliaries” and “negation” are the prerequisites to acquire conditionals.

In sum, the key point of form lies mainly in the main verbs in the bi-clausal structures of conditionals. In English conditionals, the verb form is changeable by adding one or double [+past] markers, whereby forming the past and past perfect. The problem of meaning, which is close to the term “semantic function” defined in this study, contains two concepts—temporality and hypotheticality. Temporality is in relation to time reference, while hypotheticaliy is related to the degrees of unreality. Covitt (1976) noticed that time-tense relationship may beset learners, because of their deviated mapping; however, we suggest that the concept of “time-tense relationship” be regarded as the interactions of tense with temporality and mood with hypotheticality.

Since the difficulty of conditionals lies in the interaction of forms (verb form changes) and meanings (temporality and hypotheticality) as have been discussed, it is necessary to investigate their relations. Schwenter (1998) summarized results of past studies and commented that not only the conditional markers but also verbal tense and mood alternation all contribute to the interpretations. Those points will be dealt with respectively.

2.2 Previous accounts for L2 development at intermediate level

The studies on second language acquisition of conditionals can be grouped as two main kinds with different research concerns. Some studies were conducted in terms of pedagogy. Because most students learned their second language in the formal settings—classrooms, Mindt (1996) compared the differences of evidences from corpus and syllabuses from textbooks. He distinguished three types of conditionals:

Type : real (or open) conditions

Type a: time orientation: present or future

Type b: time orientation: past

Citing the results from Hasse’s (1988) study on conditional clauses from the London-Lund Corpus, Mindt found that the sequence of these three types in German textbooks did not follow the authentic distribution in corpus. Type is the most frequent type, and the tense sequence in Type is as following:

Accordingly, Mindt concluded that the most optimal sequence to be displayed in textbooks should follow: Type (simple present- modal- will + infinitive), Type a, and then Type b. This seems to be the optimal sequence for L2 learners to acquire conditionals, but do they really learn them in accord with this sequence?

Other studies regarding second language acquisition were set out on the basis of different theories. Based on the “Markedness Differential Hypothesis” (MDH) proposed by Eckman (1977; 1996), Berent (1985) made experiments on the production and comprehension of conditionals by ESL learners. In this study, he adduced Eckman’s (1996) statement that if the presence of a structure p in a language implies the presence of some other structure, q, but the presence of q in some language does not imply the presence of p, then the structure p is marked relative to structure q, and structure q is unmarked relative to structure p.

This hypothesis provides the comparability of two linguistic structures so that different conditional types could be examined, but Berent’s results still showed an inconsistent pattern that the difficulty sequence in the production task was opposite to that in the comprehension task. Therefore, he concluded that form and function can be acquired at different times. The learners may not have fully acquired all the functions represented by one particular form.

Gorden (1985) proposed that the difficulty of acquiring conditionals is not from structural or cognitive complexity, but from the transparency of form-function correspondence. His idea sheds new insight on incorporating forms and functions at the same time when considering the acquisition difficulty of conditionals. Therefore, a theoretical framework of form-function mapping seems to be more appropriate and adequate to shed light on this situation.

The asymmetry between forms and functions may cause serious problems for L2 learners, and nowhere is this confusion more apparent in conditionals. Therefore, the study on conditionals needs a theory groundwork which stresses both syntactic and semantic features. The Functional-Cognitive model (FC model) proposed by Mellow and Stanley (2001) is such a new framework that caters to our needs.

based on the Competition Model, Mellow and Stanley (2001) listed four commitments the FC model contains, including that “(i) the interlanguage systems are hypothesized to be composed of form-function mappings (ii) language learning is incremental through associative learning process (iii) the processing is restricted by short-term memory (iv) developmental patterns are resulted from the frequency in input and functional properties of the mappings, that is, a data-driven position.”

This principle stresses one crucial phenomenon that a construct with more features of forms and functions occur late due to the complex structural properties and functional loads. Mellow and Stanley (2001) further attributed the reasons of the formal and functional complexities to “a greater quantity of required morphological or syntactic forms” and “complex semantic content that is a combination of semantic features or poly-functionality of meaning”. As such, the FC model seems to reign over the previous accounts and may uncover what previous approaches have overlooked.

Following these postulations, it is plausible to reason that a linguistic item, which bears more formal or functional features, is supposed to go with more perplexity. In light of these, it is suggested that a linguistic construction with more features of functions and forms involved appears to bear more burden and thus is more difficult for learners to grasp. Hence, a syntactic and semantic feature analysis of conditionals is indispensable in successfully accounting for the inter-relations.

PART II.

CHAPTER III. DIDACTIC IMPLICATIONS

3.1 The cognitive processes of teachers

Cognition processes have a considerable impact on the professional life of teachers. They are active subjects who make decisions using complex networks of knowledge, thoughts, and beliefs. These networks are personalized, practice oriented, and context-sensitive . In fact, at the beginning of a teacher training program, students may have inappropriate or unrealistic views about teaching and learning. It seems that the development of teachers' cognitive processes is central to understanding their conceptions. Each student of Pedagogy conceptualizes and interprets his studies of pedagogical formation in a different and unique way.

Cognition not only determines what teachers do, but it is also structured by the experiences that they accumulate. Many teachers refer to their experience as a unique, personal, and unique entity. It is a personal history of knowledge and information that is gained through trial and error and relates to pedagogical ideas that are effective under certain circumstances.

For purposes of this research, the concept of cognitions will be defined as those eclectic mental constructs that come from different sources: personal experiences, prejudices, judgments, ideas, intentions. All of them are highly subjective and vaguely delimited; however, they give meaning to the performance of the teacher in the classroom. People use their cognitions to remember, interpret, predict, and control events that occur in the classroom and make decisions . They are products of the construction of the world and are based on processes of associative learning; but they also have a cultural origin insofar as they are constructed in forms of social and communicative interaction. Cognitions are composed of more or less integrated and consistent sets of ideas that are constructed, based on everyday experiences. They are incomplete and simplified versions of reality, which although they remain inaccessible to consciousness, have some level of internal organization, structure and systematicity.

3.2 Didactic implications

The functional and communicative approach presents the need to propose the teaching of grammar with a series of didactic implications. We point out the following:

1) It is necessary to start from the knowledge that students have, from the level of use of their own language, and from here to introduce the grammatical contents when the student already has a sufficient mature development that makes possible the process of linguistic abstraction . In the first cycles it is advisable to promote a grammatical work of a qualitative nature, which ensures the formation of concepts and grammatical reflection.

2) Grammatical reflection must be oriented towards the development of discursive competence, that is, to improve the ability to understand and produce texts, taking into account the circumstances of the communicative context, as well as the rules of organization Textual and linguistic system. This requires operative approaches on the part of the educator that go beyond providing linguistic competence, learning words, structures and rules; beyond grammar in short. The grammatical oration, the basis of many of the language classes, must give way to global language activities as a "system of communication systems". Grammar is not taught, language is taught for the student to learn grammar, world knowledge, rules of language use, different uses of language.

3) It is necessary to start from the notion of "communication" because, in general, it is the fundamental objective of the teaching of languages ​​today, and a reflection must be made on the ways in which language contributes to communication . This approach addresses a fundamental issue such as the fact that communication uses signals provided by the lexical and grammatical system and, depending on the level at which students wish to participate in the communication, will need to develop levels of Ability to use this system of signals in a creative way, through their own productions and in different situations.

4) The teaching of language at this stage must progressively update the linguistic system of students to put it into operation in an increasingly diversified and conscious way. In order to do this, the school should encourage the autonomous and personal use of language and awaken a curious, active and creative attitude so that they are motivated not only to express something but also to be interested in how they are expressing it. This involves working on such fundamental aspects as the work of registers (from a non-exclusively normative perspective), practical and effective knowledge of the principles of communication, the development of a reflexive attitude about one's own language and inclusion in the process Security and freedom of use. In other words, language is studied as a structural system, but whose primary function is to make communication possible, since this is the idea of ​​the language on which the communicative curriculum is based.

5) Grammar knowledge should contribute to the management of language regulations, which is built largely on grammatical concepts. We fully agree with Littlewood (1984) when he states: "What we propose is that in the school environment the language is not considered as something external to the subject and completely finished ergo that is transmitted as an aseptic heritage of tradition and culture; It is necessary to be aware that language is, as has recently accentuated transformational generative theories, a dynamic manifestation energy of man “.

However, in spite of what has been said, one should not fall into the error of expressivity being everything and it is not necessary to correct anything (opposite opposite to what happened until recently in the classroom). As Crystal points out (1981,) "Is a false dichotomy. There must be a place for expressiveness … But there must also be a place for precision, appropriateness and propriety, aspects in which it is necessary to socialize the child, linguistically speaking “.

3.3 School Grammar

Definition

School Grammar, in addition to science, discipline, subject or subject whose main objective is to show schoolchildren and teachers, how it is and how it should be our language, has a high formative value.

The student, by learning an adequate and well-constructed grammar, exercises his intellectual capacities, develops and perfects them because he has to put into action his intelligence and will, among other human attributes that the modern school tries to develop.

Characteristics of School Grammar

To sum up a lot one can point out that the main notes or peculiarities that distinguish the School Grammar are the following:

1) Coherence, provided that its scientific and didactic doctrinal body is based on a series of definitions ("postulates" and "corollaries") that are not contradicted, and that its doctrine is adapted to the subjects and elements that intervene in the didactic act ;

2) Completeness or completeness, when studying all and home one of the most important topics related to its original purpose, as a science and / or technique that helps the knowledge and teaching of a particular language;

3) Clarity, as a basic principle that tries to transmit the knowledge so that the didactic communication does not offer obstacles, and

4) Concision, by reducing its doctrine to the minimum elements, to eliminate all redundancy, provided that the fundamental principles, whether scientific or didactic / pedagogical, are not suppressed or adulterated.

Group Activities

The idea of ​​learning as a cooperative process does not represent a novelty in pedagogy since such important authors as Dewey, Decroly, Cousinet or Freinet already showed the importance of this mode of learning. Now, it will be cognitive psychology with the contributions of the Geneva School on the processes of learning and development of the child that will introduce in education an individualistic substratum that prevents recognition of the intersubjective dimension of language. Recently, however, the contributions of Vygotsky's historical-cultural current and the works developed, in that same line by Bruner constitute-for the current school pedagogy models of great interest to be incorporated into the school methodology. Thus, without neglecting the importance of individual activities in many cases, particular emphasis is placed on the adoption of cooperative learning models.

The project is to turn the classroom, the classroom, into a research, learning group. The first objective is to create a good climate, to explain very well the objective, to offer spaces of opinion, to present those opinions, to explain what they hope to achieve with these activities.

Conflicts of personal or group learning are resolved through interaction. The common capital is the desire to learn or even the will to solve concrete problems of the language itself and its grammar.

In this spirit students who already know one thing learn more, because they explain what they know and have to verbalize. This helps them formulate what they have learned. However, for those who do not know, it is explained some of his own age and with the same language. Everything is more understandable. In addition, and this is the essence, everyone is in class with a much more participatory, responsible attitude. They are protagonists of what they learn. The teacher also changes his attitude; he is no longer the one who makes a speech, but the one that accompanies in the learning process of the students. Proposes, provokes, encourages, is a catalyst within the classroom.

When the analysis of language is seen as a "construction" activity, it is an educational practice guided by logic. Here students develop themselves as a heterogeneous group through collective deliberation on their linguistic practices. This process assumes the absence of hierarchical control of the teacher. From the student's point of view, investigating, theorizing, deciding and applying the language in different contexts are the integral components of linguistic practice in the classroom and facilitating their subsequent generalization to different situations outside of it.

Working on discussions of situations recorded from games and simulation of communicative situations, and from the different types of speeches and texts that are developed in classrooms in different subjects, can be useful methodological resources to analyze their productions and the Of others, in relation to the ideas exposed, the exposition of concepts and the defence of the arguments, the rhetorical elements used as well as the modes of interaction that occur, etc. All this can contribute to reflect on what syntactic tools, what idiomatic registers, what lexical selection you have to make in order to get a correct and adequate expression of your ideas in a de-terminated context.

3.4 English teaching as a foreign language

In the line of English didactics there is a theoretical framework that allows the observation of the multitude of didactic variables that intervene in the teaching and learning of English. Here we can distinguish four blocks of elements, according to Scrivener (2005):

(A) those relating to linguistic content;

(B) those that affect human behaviour: the actions for which a teacher plans, teaches, evaluates, relates to a group of students. Such behaviours respond to wills and intentions and are therefore more difficult to objectify, to understand and above all to reproduce;

(C) those that affect the mental processes: the operations that occur in the brain when it comes to learning the English language

(D) those external factors that constitute the conditions in which the action of teaching or learning a foreign language develops. These are decisive factors in the processes and reflections of the teaching of the foreign language, namely: the formal or informal situation of the teaching, the age and / or interests of the students, the hours (intensive, extensive), resources and instruments With which it is counted.

To propose a description of the didactic variables is not an easy task, since they, as social phenomena, are subject to historical fluctuations and to human intentionalities (Zanting, Verloop and Vermut, 2003). This open nature, in permanent construction, of its nature, makes it difficult to appreciate the essence of the teaching and learning process.

            Table 1 presents a comparison of the functions of the didactic variables of the teaching and learning process, according to three didactic models: Grammar-translation, Audio-lingual or Communicative.

Table 1. Teaching models in teaching and learning English Grammar

3.5 The grammatical component in English as a foreign language

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages ​​(Council of Europe, 2001) defines competence as the knowledge, skills and attitudes developed by users of a language in its use, the sum of these skills allow a person to perform certain actions. The Council of Europe distinguishes between two types of competence; general competences, which are those that are not directly related to the language but can be useful for language activities, and communicative skills that allow a person to act using linguistic means. At the same time, communicative competence is divided into three classes: pragmatic, sociolinguistic and linguistic competences.

In the first place, pragmatic competence has to do with the functional use of linguistic resources. This competence is related to the domain of discourse and elements such as cohesion, coherence, irony, parody and so on. This competition also focuses on the interactions and cultural environments in which such interactions take place.

For its part, sociolinguistic competence refers to the cultural conditions inherent in the use of language. It deals with social conventions such as the rules of courtesy and the different norms that regulate the interaction between different generations, sexes and social groups. This competence affects communication between representatives of different cultures. Finally, there is the linguistic competence, defined as the knowledge of the formal resources and the capacity to use them. This knowledge is treated independently of the sociolinguistic value of its variants and the pragmatic functions of its realizations. The lexical, semantic, phonological, orthographic, orthopetical and grammatical competences are recognized in the Common European Framework as components of linguistic competence. Given that the present research focuses on the description of the teaching methods of the grammar component in the Degree, it is convenient to take the term grammatical component, defined in the Common European Framework as the ability to understand and express meanings, expressing and recognizing phrases and "Well-formed" sentences (Council of Europe, 2001, pp. 110). However, the definition of grammar is something that is not addressed in depth in the Common European Framework. The Council of Europe states that: The grammar of any language in this [formal] sense is enormously complex, and so far resists a conclusive or exhaustive treatment. There are several conflicting theories and models about word organization in sentences. It is not the competence of the Reference Framework to evaluate them and to recommend the use of none, but rather to ensure that users express what they have decided to adopt and what consequences that choice has for their practice.

In this regard, other authors are more specific when it comes to talking about grammar and how it should be taught in the classroom. According to Batstone (1994), in the first place is the grammar understood as product. In this case the grammar is a series of rules, a product, that can be delivered to the student. Grammatical structures are blocks that the student can manipulate. This way of conceiving grammar would correspond to the structural approach in that it understands grammar as one of the basic components of a language and is studied in isolation.

Batstone (1994) states that the second way of conceiving the grammatical component is as a process. In this conception, language is given more importance in practice than in theory. The goal is for the student to see language as a procedure that he learns to put into practice through different grammatical rules while concentrating his attention on the meaning of what he says. Grammar as a process is attached to the functional approach.

Finally, Batstone (1994) mentions that if grammar as a product is not given due attention, there is a risk that it will not be applied as a process in practice. In response to this problem we have the third way of conceiving grammar, as a skill. The student is expected to pay attention to grammar as a product, while working on activities that focus on grammar as a process; that is it is an intermediate point between both approaches in which it is understood that for there to be effective communication there must be awareness about the use of grammar rules. This conception of grammar is a combination of the three approaches mentioned above.

For its part, Ur (1999) affirms that the definition of grammar more frequent is "the way in which the words are joined to form sentences correctly" , however, the term "grammar" can be applied in more units Short, like a phrase, words or morphemes. In addition, grammar not only covers the rules that must be followed to articulate these units, but also takes care of the meaning of grammatical structures. This last aspect is one of the most difficult to understand for the student.

On the other hand, the place of grammar within the teaching of a foreign language is a controversial subject. Several theories affirm that the knowledge of the grammar must be intuitive and not an aspect that is formally taught while others propose that, although the grammar should not be the central aspect, it does have to approach. These positions are evident in the different teaching methods.

However, as Ur mentions, the problem is not whether grammar should be taught or not. Grammar is necessary and can serve as a tool to facilitate the learning process. What should be avoided is simply to teach grammar as an end in itself. Thus grammar must be accompanied by the practice of other skills such as speech or listening without which effective learning of a language is not possible.

As a component of the language, grammar is included in the learning process of the language. However, as with any other component, such as lexical or semantic, it is necessary to develop a particular teaching methodology of this component according to the needs of students. The main elements that must compose a methodology of teaching of the grammar component, as well as the main differences between the concepts of methodology and method.

CHAPTER IV. METHODOLOGY AND METHOD IN TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR

4.1 Conceptual ambiguity of "method"

Before describing the different methods and methodological approaches used in the German classrooms, it would be useful to clarify the conceptual ambiguity of the term method – from the Greek methods: "path", "process" – referred to, within the framework of language teaching, Current methodology of linguistic analysis, as a manual or textbook, among other existing contents, such as the reference to the learning procedure, differentiating, in this sense, the inductive method of deductive.

Aggarwal  (2009), in one of the works that have addressed this aspect in English, warns that: it is often called "method" to what is in fact an approach that takes as a base of theoretical reflection on the language and / or on learning, and in it one find more space for the interpretation and individual variation of what a method would allow. This is the reason why we now more aptly call "Communicative Approach" to the methodological current that in its beginnings was called "Communicative Method", for example.

Due to the polysemic character of both terms, we consider it convenient to give method only the first meaning, namely a "methodological stream", leaving the conceptual value of "textbook" for the term "manual", and that of "methodological approach "To determine the specific perspective or theory, within a methodological context, so that a given" method "may have different" approaches ", embodied in various" manuals ". Therefore, we will understand by "method" the process or way to achieve a certain objective, whereas "approach" would consist of the perspective taken as a point of view for the approach of a certain question.

4.2 Methodology and method

A distinction between the concepts of methodology and method is necessary because in the reviewed literature there are certain discrepancies between the authors who work on the subject of English as a foreign language. In most cases no distinction is made between the concepts of methodology and method, in others the concept of methodology is defined by conferring characteristics of the concept of the method. Therefore, this work takes the definitions of the authors that provide the clearest distinction between methodology and method.

Nunan (1991) refers to the Longman dictionary of applied linguistics to offer what he considers the most adequate definition of what a methodology and its components are. According to this definition a methodology is the study of the practices and procedures used in teaching, as well as the principles and beliefs that reside in them, which give rise to the approaches. The methodology also includes the study of the nature of language skills such as reading, writing, listening and listening; and the procedures, lesson plans, materials and textbooks used for their teaching.

Richards and Rodgers (1986) define the method as a general plan for the orderly presentation of procedures for teaching a language, this presentation and method itself are based on a selected approach. For these authors the approach is a set of related beliefs, about the nature of learning and teaching of languages ​​that are the basis of principles for the practices of teaching a language.

In other words, the idea of ​​approach refers to the assumptions and beliefs about language and its learning, whereas the method refers to the level at which these beliefs are applied to the design of the method itself, in this design establish the Characteristics of objectives, instructional materials, activities, type of syllabus, as well as the characteristics of the role of teacher and students.

According to Richards & Rodgers (1986), the last level that is part of a methodology is the procedure, which refers to the class techniques, practices and behaviors that occur at the time of the class when applying the elements of a method. The conjugation of the approach, the design and the procedure applied to the class give way to what we know as methodology. However, this methodology should not necessarily consist of elements belonging to the same method or approach, but can combine them taking into account the particular beliefs of each teacher, therefore a methodology simply adopts elements of one or several types of method.

The following are detailed elements of the design that give account of a methodology: teaching objectives, the role of the student and the teacher, the type of activities to be developed, the role of materials and the type of syllabus adopted.

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

The first element that Richards & Rodgers (1986) makes is part of a methodology are the objectives. Widdowson (1983, quoted in White, 1988), defines goal as the pedagogical intentions of a particular course, which are expected to be reached at the end or during a period of it; Likewise, the objectives are principles that can be measured by means of an evaluation. In addition, objectives are usually formulated in terms of behaviour with an action verb (eg, define, identify, classify, etc.), so that they are specific, unambiguous, and measurable.

On the other hand, White (1988) states that the objectives must account for four elements. They should state what the student is expected to do, under what conditions, in how much time and with what mastery of the language (eg, write an essay about a known topic by providing arguments for and against). This formulation allows the teacher and the students to have a clear guide with respect to the contents and expected accomplishments in the course.

In addition, Nunan (1988) agrees with White that objectives as well as serving as a guide for content selection also provide a clear idea to students and teachers of what they can expect from the course. Nunan adds that there are different ways of formulating objectives, either specifying what the teacher and student are going to do, specifying the course content and behaviours that the student can develop after taking the course.

Nunan (1988) makes a distinction between two kinds of objectives. The first is the real world objectives, these objectives refer to the activities that the student can do in contexts other than the classroom. The second class is the pedagogical objectives, these refer to the activities that the student must carry out in the classroom. Another distinction that Nunan (1988) makes with respect to objectives is the difference between product objectives and process objectives. The first are the objectives that describe what the students will be able to do as a result of their learning during the course, while the process objectives are those that will enable the student to develop the skills necessary to meet the product objectives. On the other hand, each method formulates different objectives according to its conception of the teaching of a foreign language. The following are examples of the parameters taken into account in formulating the objectives according to the best known methods, compiled by Stern (1990).

Grammar-Translation Method: Being focused on understanding and memorizing the system of grammatical rules, the grammatical-translation method does not take into account oral production and comprehension skills in its objectives. The most important thing is the understanding of texts in the target language, which eventually allow the user to speak and write in it.

Natural Method: Unlike the previous method, the natural method focuses on the understanding of oral texts in the target language. Therefore memorization is not a primary goal. Grammatical rules are inferred and the emphasis is on the understanding of sounds and simple phrases related to the context in which the class is given.

Reading Method: The objectives are aimed at practical purposes developed from reading rather than memorizing concepts. As their emphasis is on reading comprehension, objectives are not primarily concerned with oral and written production.

Audio- Lingual Method: The emphasis is on "fundamental skills" ie reading comprehension and oral production. Through instruction and practice the student must improve those skills as he works on other skills such as oral comprehension and written production.

Cognitive method: Although also concerned with reading comprehension skills and oral production, the cognitive method emphasizes language control in its different manifestations, so its objectives are broader. Not only does it give importance to the knowledge of the grammatical rules, but also pay attention to its application.

In addition to the objectives set for each class session, the role of the student and the teacher in the classroom is fundamental in the construction of a teaching methodology, since these are the main actors in the process of learning a foreign language.

STUDENT’S ROLE

Each teaching method requires the teacher and student certain characteristics and attitudes in the classroom. Here is the description of the student's role according to the six most frequent methods as explained by Stevick (1996).

Grammar-Translation Method: In this method the student has to remember the different grammatical rules of the language he is learning. You must know how the prefixes and suffixes are articulated, and you must know the terms (eg, verb, noun, adverb, etc.). The student is a passive subject who is limited to receiving what the teacher gives and focuses on memory skills.

Reading Method: As in the Grammar-Translation method, the student must memorize grammatical categories, rules and vocabulary. However, this knowledge is applied by the student in more or less real contexts. The student is asked to use expressions in the target language, rather than reciting them by heart. The student must practice to correct any mistakes he may have.

Audio Lingual Method: Unlike previous methods, this method requires the student to work for long periods of time to improve his or her ability in the language. However, with regard to production, the student is limited to say what is related to the textbook, elements that are not within that context should be avoided. On the other hand, the student is not asked to remember certain grammatical categories, memory is a secondary element, the most important is repetition.

Silent Method: In this method the student must have three fundamental characteristics: independence, autonomy and responsibility. The student should focus on his own learning process and the resources he has at his disposal. Upon receiving few or very few instructions from the teacher the student is obliged to learn and analyze the contents on his own. It focuses on repetition of words to improve pronunciation. In addition, the student must infer grammatical structures.

Community approach: In this method the student must participate in conversations with his / her classmates, with elements of the target language as well as their mother tongue, the teacher corrects or translates and the student must repeat. The students are the ones who generate the conversations, after the phase of conversation the student must copy the transcription of the talk. The student must be active and participate in activities.

Natural Method: Based on the fact that learning a second language is similar to learning the mother tongue, the student is passive in principle while listening to the teacher, then the student is responsible for making their own productions and assimilating corrections Made by him. No memorization of rules or vocabulary is required, but the student will produce as he feels more secure with his knowledge.

The role of the teacher on the other hand, also has quite clear parameters that allow their identification and classification. These are presented below.

TEACHER'S ROLE

Generally teaching is seen as an activity performed by a teacher in order to generate changes in apprentices. A central component of the methodology is the development of the role of the teacher, which has to do with the choice of how to act in the classroom. It should be noted that this choice affects decisions regarding the development of the teaching program (activities to be carried out, techniques to be used, etc.), which in turn influences the students' learning experience.

In the first place Harmer (2007) presents the role of the teacher as controller. In this one, the teacher assumes the whole charge of the class and the students work to the same rate. In addition, the teacher not only controls what students do, but when they should speak and what language to use to do so. Some stages of the session lend themselves to this type of role, for example, the practice of language.

When a teacher acts as a controller tends to talk most of the time, which can be seen as unhelpful for the student, since it decreases his communicative practice time. However, Harmer (2007) reminds us that in most cases, the teacher, constantly addressing students, is the most important source for example in acquiring new vocabulary. However, it is important to keep in mind that the teacher can not play an absolutely controlling role if students are expected to have the opportunity to learn, rather than just being taught.

On the other hand, it is clear that a great part of the teacher's role is to evaluate the performance of his students, a necessary question not only pedagogically, but also demanded almost naturally by students, especially in communicative activities. However, it is pertinent to establish a differentiation between two types of evaluation: correction and organized feedback. In the teaching stages in which the teacher is totally in control of the class and the student is required to reproduce correctly what is presented to him / her, the possible errors that this one can commit are corrected almost immediately. Thus, the role of the teacher is to show the student the origin of his mistake and help him to clarify ideas and / or concepts and finally make him repeat the sentence without errors.

A slightly less formal style of correction than the previous one is usually given when students engage in activities that involve creative production in the foreign language. According to Hawkey (2006), in this type of activities the teacher also has to correct the errors, however, he does it in a more cordial way; Informs the student of his mistake by saying for example: "I think that's not the right way to say what you want to express …". After this, the student should not necessarily repeat the sentence correctly. This type of correction, in most cases, helps maintain the atmosphere of group work and free conversation.

The other type of evaluation – organized feedback – occurs when the students have done some homework and it is sought that they themselves can see how many successes or failures they have had in their realization, in addition they are given ideas about how to solve their problems of communication in language Foreign. Harmer (2007) states that, in providing feedback to students, the teacher must first assess activity as an activity and not as a language exercise (feedback of content). If the teacher focused his assessment solely on the students' linguistic performance, the activity as such would lose all importance. Once the activity is evaluated by its nature, the teacher can then proceed to feedback form, in which he communicates to his students how successful his linguistic performance has been.

Probably the most difficult role to achieve for a teacher, is that of teacher as an organizer. According to Harmer (2007), the fundamental purpose of the teacher when organizing an activity is to inform the students about what they are going to do, to give them clear instructions regarding their task, to carry out the activity as planned and to finally provide feedback when It has ended. At first glance this would not entail any major complications, however, an organizing role demands from the teacher great precision in his lesson plans and instructions given to students, since if students are not clear about what they are asked, they will not be able To perform the activity successfully.

Harmer (2007) offers an organizational model for an activity. In this the organization consists of three parts. In the first, the teacher makes an introduction of the activity that will allow students a familiarization with the subject to work. After the introduction phase, the teacher communicates to the students exactly what they should do and how they should do it; In some cases, it is necessary for the teacher to offer a demonstration of the exercise, to make it clearer. Finally, the teacher starts the activity, but not before asking the students again if they have understood the task they are asked to perform. During the activity the teacher does not intervene unless it is to correct some errors in a "cordial" way, to repeat the instructions or, if necessary, to motivate the students to work.

As for this last point, there are occasions in which the teacher needs to encourage students to participate, or make suggestions about how to proceed next to the performance of an activity, in this, their role would be to motivate. According to Harmer (2007) the role of motivator should be played with discretion, since if the teacher is too aggressive in his role, he may have more participation than the student himself and forget that his role is to help the learner only when necessary.

On the other hand, the teacher can adopt a participant role in the activities assigned to his students, acting as a student. However, as Hedge (2000) clarifies, this may not be advisable insofar as the teacher might have a tendency to dominate the activity and students would not only allow it, but would expect this to happen. It would then be the teacher's responsibility to prevent this from happening, and taking this into account, should not be allowed to participate, since this would not only help to improve the atmosphere of the class, but also give them the opportunity to practice together person with a higher level of foreign language than theirs.

So far, the importance of non-intervention of the teacher has been emphasized, especially in activities that are considered communicative. Despite this, it should be mentioned that although the teacher should avoid getting too involved in the tasks, his role in the classroom is not relegated to the level of observer. For Harmer (2007) one of the roles that the teacher should adopt in a communicative instruction, is that of teacher as a resource. In this way, the teacher should be available for consultation whenever students require it.

There are other roles that the teacher adopts when students find, for example, in the development of a project. The students then come to the teacher as tutor, looking for guidance and academic advice. This role, which incorporates some elements of other roles such as the organizer, motivator and teacher as a refuse; Is more appropriate in an intermediate and advanced level of language learning, in which the teacher helps students clarify concepts, delimit the research or project and motivates them in the performance of tasks. (Harmer, 2007).

Finally, Harmer (2007) refers to the role of the teacher as a researcher, which is not necessarily related to the behaviour adopted by the teacher towards students in the classroom. As a researcher, the teacher wants to deepen his knowledge about the best ways of teaching a foreign language. For this, the teacher can attend seminars or training courses, which provide tools for their investigative work. In addition to this, the teacher can perform small experiments and observations within his class; Try new techniques and activities that allows to reflect on the best way to defuse the job.

ACTIVITIES

Referring to the teacher's role in teaching a foreign language would not be possible without taking into account the nature of the activities developed by the teacher in the classroom. According to Ellis (2010) much of the research work on acquiring a foreign language has focused on acquiring grammar; So we can find a series of proposals concerning the type of activities that best help the teacher to achieve the goal. One of these proposals promotes the use of "focused tasks" as a way to provide students with the opportunity to practice specific grammatical issues within a communicative context.

Interpretation activities belong to another of the proposals presented by Ellis. These activities seek to teach grammar by having the students process the target structure through the interpretation of the input, and not through the produced output of the structure. According to Ellis (2010) interpretation activities require students to process the structure to give meaning to the sentence or sentence that is shown to them, and this way the student establishes relationships between the structure and its meaning, in other words: to develop the task that asks them.

There are two kinds of interpretation activities: input utilization activities and structured input activities. According to Ellis (2010) the first ones involve the design of activities in such a way that the characteristic to be taught appears frequently and prominently within the input given to the students. Such activities may consist of oral texts in which the structure of interest and exercises that can not be resolved unless the student has satisfactorily processed the structure. The structures of use of the input must provide the student with a sufficient amount of input in which the structure is highlighted in order to effectively impact the student's inter-language system.

The rationale for the use of input is that the acquisition of a foreign language can occur incidentally. Students may not be perfectly aware of the structure being taught, however they should note. So the main objective of this type of activities is to help perceive the structure making it stand out especially in the input. According to Ellis (2010) this type of activities can be used to reinforce the learning acquired in a more traditional way, to consolidate the effects of grammar instruction.

On the other hand, in terms of structured input activities, Ellis (2010) points out that these activities are based on the understanding of grammar and go beyond presenting the student with a type of enriched input of the Structure, that by means of an instruction forces him to process it, that is, it goes beyond an act of stimulus-response. In a structured input activity the stimulus can be a written input in which the student can respond in various ways, for example, indicating truth or falsity or selecting the correct image; The most important thing is to respond by making minimal verbal use. Also, these activities can be sequenced in such a way that the main focus is on the meaning and only afterwards the form and function of the grammatical structure, whose errors and successes in the use are discussed towards the end of the activity.

The last proposal of activities for the teaching of grammar offered by Ellis (2010), refers to the so-called conscientization tasks, whose purpose is to develop an awareness at the level of understanding and not at the level of appreciation of a grammatical structure. An awareness task makes language itself the content, inviting students to discover how that structure works for them as users of the language. Thus, an activity of this type attempts to focus attention on a single grammatical structure, which is explicitly described or explained in rule form. After this explanation and some analysis, the students will try to verbalize the rule that describes the grammatical rule making use of its own linguistic resources in the foreign language, turning the grammar into a subject about which to communicate.

The foundation for this type of activity is that explicit knowledge facilitates an implicit, as it helps students to perceive the grammatical characteristics in the input and also to notice the distance between this and their own inter-language. Such awareness also helps to improve in students the formulations derived from their implicit knowledge and thus to correct their linguistic production. The activities in many cases depend on a material of support that facilitates the success of the same ones. The following is an explanation of the materials as well as the most representative materials of some methods.

MATERIALS

As for the materials used in teaching a language, there are many options, books designed for the course, images, videos, etc. Currently textbooks designed for a particular course are the most frequent material with its advantages and disadvantages, such as that the contents of a book does not take into account the real needs of students, or that the subjects are not relevant. However, the material to be used depends to a large extent on the preferred method.

In addition, there are factors that influence the choice of a particular material. McDonough and Shaw (2003) mention some as the role of English in the country and in school, teacher preference, available resources, number of students, availability of time, administrative factors, socio-cultural environment , among others.

Another important factor in choosing a material is what Hadfield and Hadfield call the "resource pyramid" (cited in Harmer, 2007). At the top of this pyramid are people, since with people you can work in different ways, either by role playing or by exemplifying concepts with the body. At the base are the most complex resources such as language laboratories, videos, computers, etc. Because they are harder to get and are not available to everyone. Other components of the top-down pyramid are real-life objects, board, paper and pencil, books, cassette recorders, overhead projectors and photocopies.

Each method has some characteristic and representative materials according to the needs and beliefs of how English must be taught, as well as there are materials that adapt to the method. A board can be used to make a translation in the grammar-translation method, or to make an explanatory drawing in the natural method. Some examples of materials according to a particular method are as follows.

Grammar-Translation Method: Two materials are representative of this method. The first is the texts in the target language that the student must translate into his / her mother tongue, the themes of such texts do not take into account the student's context or issues of interest. The second material is textbooks with information about the different grammatical rules the student must learn, explanations are full of technical terminology on grammar.

Reading Method: The material is normally composed of reading books with texts according to the level of the student, the length of these texts varies between 3,000 and 5,000 words and the subjects they deal with are usually unrelated. These texts contain asides with the vocabulary that appears in the readings to facilitate their comprehension.

Audio-lingual method: As the name of the method indicates, the materials are oriented to produce an auditory stimulus as well as to encourage oral production. Recorded conversations are often used, while a textbook puts in writing what is spoken in the conversations and instructs the student to modify them.

Silent Method: The most representative material of this method are the Cusenaire Strips, originally designed for teaching mathematics. In the silent method they are used for various activities such as showing where the accent is placed in a sentence, or to explain the position of words in a sentence, as well as to represent objects of daily life, such as a clock, a telephone, etc.. Textbooks in addition to offering a translation of the new vocabulary, have pronunciation tables.

Community Approach: Since this method requires that students' oral output be reviewed, a recording mechanism is necessary to record conversations and reproduce them, so that the teacher can transcribe them and correct any errors.

Natural method: Usually the classes revolve around a text in the target language. If this text has expressions that the student does not understand, the teacher explains them in the target language by means of mime, paraphrase, synonyms or any other resource that does not imply a translation. Another common material in this method are images and tables with phonetic transcriptions.

Cognitive method: A textbook that conforms to the cognitive method has explanations of rules of grammar in relation to oral texts and written in the target language. These texts are related to the student's context or elements of real life.

SYLLABUS

The last of the elements that allow to give an account of a methodology is the syllabus, but before beginning with the definition of the same it is important to make a distinction between this and the term curriculum. Dubin and Olshtain (1991) define curriculum as the guide that contains a general description of objectives determined according to a specific educational cultural philosophy. These philosophies provide a theoretical orientation on the language and its teaching. The curriculum is generally reflective of a number of policy trends at the national level.

On the other hand, Dubin and Olshtain (1991) define the syllabus as a more detailed and precise document in which the philosophy expressed in the curriculum is posed in the form of steps that point to more specific objectives at each level. That is to say that from a curriculum can be made different syllables that deal with audiences, needs, materials and concrete objectives. In the present research we deal with the syllabus as it is the way in which one can realize some designs of specific methods applied in the classroom.

According to Ur (1999), a syllable is a list that specifies the elements that are taught in a given course. The components of this list may well be conceptual elements such as words, structures or themes, or indications oriented to the execution of the class, such as activities. These elements are usually ordered based on the relevance and the difficulty of them, the most necessary issues are the first to be addressed and the more complex are left to the end.

In addition, Nunan (1988) agrees that the syllabus is mainly concerned with the selection of content, as well as its organization and planning. Nunan further expresses that the syllable does not necessarily have to include elements like the materials or the method of teaching; If a syllable contains such elements, it depends exclusively on who designs it. Nunan adds that when the syllable contains the methodological aspects of teaching, it corresponds to a broad perspective syllabus; On the contrary, if the syllabus makes a separation between the content aspects and the methodology it is a syllable of limited perspective.

Candlin (1984, quoted in Hedge, 2000) states that the syllabus is more than a list of contents ordered by relevance, it is a window that accounts for particular social, educational and moral values. In this vein, syllables reflect beliefs about education and usually specify the type of methodology to be applied in the course.

Likewise, Ur (1999) explains that the syllable usually presents the objectives explicitly based on the selected conceptual and methodological elements. These objectives are explained in detail in the syllabus. On the other hand, the syllabus is considered as a public document that is available for both teachers and students, as well as for parents, academic peers, researchers, etc. As Ur (1999) explains, it is common for syllables to contain a timeline that determines the amount of time that is allocated for each subject, the approach, method and materials to be used in classes. The thematic content of the syllabus is what determines its type and the methodology that is used in the class.

Yalden (1989) agrees with Ur that the syllabus is not used exclusively by the teacher, rather it is a record of class objectives, methodology, resources and time allocated for each topic. On the other hand the syllabus fulfils the function of mediating between the needs and aspirations of the student and the content of the class. On the other hand, Yalden affirms that the syllabus must be explicit in the definition of its objectives and contents, and that it must be produced by teachers, which ensures that the final product is clear. In addition, the syllabus should be more or less explicit for students and should contain what is to be taught, rather than what is to be learned. Nunan (1988) gives a description of the most common types of syllable and some of its most outstanding characteristics. Here is a brief description of the different types of syllables outlined by the author:

Grammar: Consists of a list of grammatical structures (eg simple present, comparative, superlative, etc.) as well as other elements (eg articles, plural and singular formation, complements, etc.). It is usually divided into sections according to the level of difficulty or importance. These structures are presented in a sequential manner and the domain of one subject is required before continuing with the next one.

Lexical: It consists of a list of lexical elements (girl, boy, go away) with their habitual placements, idiomatic expressions, etc. It is usually divided into sections by levels

Grammatical-lexical: In this type of syllable are both grammatical structures as lexical elements or mixed, in sections divided by units or as two separate aspects.

Situational: These syllables are based on the use of language in real life contexts, these uses are comparable to the contents that can be found in a book with phrases for tourists. The idea underlying this syllabus is that the student should be asked to talk about the activities he did last week instead of being asked to learn about the simple past (Nunan, 1988). The sections have status titles or places such as "Eating a meal" or "In the street".

Content-based: It is similar to the situational syllabus however, titles are more general and focused on a particular content such as "Food" or "The Family" which generally contain a repertoire of vocabulary defined for each section. The idea of ​​this syllabus is that languages ​​are not subjects as such, such as mathematics, science or history, but language is a vehicle that allows communication about something else.

Notional: Notions are concepts that can be expressed with language. These concepts are very general and include topics such as numbers, time, places, colors. It can be equated to a list with elements of vocabulary like for example "the weather" or "places".

Functional-notional: Functions are what can be done with language, as opposed to the notions that are things that can be expressed. This type of syllabus is organized around the social functions of language. Some examples of the titles of this syllable can be "identifying", "promising", etc.

Procedural: These syllables focus on learning tasks that must be performed rather than knowledge about the language or its meaning. These tasks or actions are elements of daily life that are carried out as a result of the understanding of language, Nunan (1988) puts as an example the action of drawing a map following an instruction. This syllable requires the teacher to specify what is considered correct when completing the activity. Examples of these tasks may be to perform scientific experiments, storytelling, etc.

Process: In principle this syllabus is very similar to procedure-based as it focuses on activities or tasks such as using the telephone, or obtaining information; However, in this syllabus content is negotiated with students before and during the course. Instead of focusing on planning the purposes of a particular activity, the idea is to focus on the content students need as they emerge in the classroom. A list with the contents of the class is given only at the end to recapitulate the topics seen throughout the course.

4.3 Methodology in grammar teaching

This part tries to show the main methods in the teaching of English grammar. Broadly, some have already been cited in the preceding lines and, in which they come, we will have the opportunity to extend ourselves more. I would like to emphasize that, in addition to the methods themselves, a series of elements come together that should not be considered as baladís, beginning with the very object of these: grammar. We need first of all, delimiting the concept and what we mean by it. Obviously, the teaching mechanisms could not be possible without the teacher and student figures, which in turn, are influenced by a specific learning context. Express mention also require the materials available in the exciting work of grammar teaching. There is no doubt that the study of how learners assimilate an English grammar is a fundamental source when designing methods of teaching grammar. There are many and varied research on this subject, leaving a number of issues that raise controversy within and outside the doctrine. About all this we refer to below.

Teaching grammar is an exciting task. As part of the teaching-learning process of English grammar, different opinions have been raised about its importance, suitability, modes of teaching, etc. From my experience as a teacher, there is a feeling of not much appreciation on the part of the students at the time of their explanation. I believe it is our job as educators to be able to show it in a way that students are curious and interested in their study, being aware that any effort in acquiring useful knowledge is never empty.

The teaching of English grammar is fundamentally based on these four fields taking into account the particularities, characteristics and aspects of the same one. In this sense, we must note that grammar is not an end in itself, but a means to make our language correct and effective. For this reason, we can say that language is a social system that we all share. A social system with rules and linguistic forms that are used for very determined purposes in specific contexts. Thus, the teaching of grammar must necessarily be accompanied by the ability to interpret those social uses and situations. In other words, we should complement the more closed view of Saussure's language with a more dynamic and open one, which considers language as action. This view of language is typical of pragmatics as Hart (2005) points out. In this way, the student would be able to improve his / her linguistic abilities and also his / her communicative abilities, knowing not only the rules and grammar rules, but also being able to communicate correctly in English grammar. But with what kind of grammar do you carry out that teaching? Vanpatten (1992), distinguishes ten types:

Normative: is one that defines the correct uses of the language by means of mandatory precepts.

Compared: studies the relationships that can be established between two or more languages.

Descriptive: it is one that makes a description of the language and its elements at a given time, regardless of its history or evolution over time.

Speculative: it was developed by scholastic philosophy and tried to explain linguistic phenomena through universal and constant principles.

Structural: studies the language based on the principle that all its elements maintain systematic relations between them.

Functional: focuses on the study of the functions that meet the different elements of the language.

General: seeks to establish principles common to all languages.

Generative: it is based on formulating a set of rules capable of generating all possible and acceptable sentences of a language. It has its origin in the standard theory of Noam Chomsky

Traditional: it is based on the ideas and contributions of the Greek philosophers about language and its different elements. Its development came to the first half of the twentieth century when it was replaced by structural grammar.

Transformational: considers that from a sentence scheme can be passed to another by applying certain rules.

In the doctrine, J. P. B. Allen (1987) presents two more:

Formal or scientific grammar: the one that focuses on the study of the formal properties of language. It focuses on the language code, not the use of it.

Practical or pedagogical grammar: it is based on the elaboration of a series of rules and definitions whose main purpose is to help the student acquire a knowledge of the language and its use, sufficient for it to be able to express and communicate.

In the preceding paragraphs, one referred to the type of teaching of an English grammar that we consider more appropriate, based on a combination of grammatical and pragmatic elements, to give a global approach to the student, oriented towards the goal of allowing him to communicate correctly and effectively in different situations and contexts. Grammatical elements are conveniently treated and explained by grammars of this type. However, the social and communicative aspects, completely necessary to achieve a mutual understanding between the actors of any conversation, are outside the strict scope of the ones, reason why it is necessary the complement of a discipline able to deal with them in the Teaching of English grammar. And that discipline is none other than pragmatic. In this sense Borg (2003) writes: "The pragmatics begins as an attempt to find the meaning of linguistic behaviour. In their analysis of language as action, the new discipline reaffirmed rationality, the principle of cooperation that explains that verbal interaction is possible … The pragmatics traced rows, paths and deviations and it did not stop to doubt that there was a balance between the grammar of languages ​​(consisting of vocabulary, the principles of combining words in sentences, the meanings of sentences) and the acts that can be fulfilled in speaking”. Leech  (2016) explains the object and nature of this discipline: "Pragmatics is a different perspective that starts from the data offered by grammar and then takes into consideration the extra-linguistic elements that condition the effective use of language. It studies the conditions that determine the use of concrete utterances issued by specific speakers in specific communicative situations and their interpretation by the recipients. We do not mean to say that pragmatics can or should substitute for grammatical reflection: the explanations that both offer should be understood as complementary. "

Input-centric approaches

The Input Hypothesis is the central part of the natural approach of acquisition of English as a second language, which consists of 5 hypotheses:

– Hypothesis 1: acquisition or learning. According to this hypothesis, there are two independent modes of developing skills in an English grammar:

A) Acquisition: it is an unconscious process identical in all the important details that occurs with the children who acquire their L1.

B) Learning: it is the conscious process that results in knowing a language.

– Hypothesis 2: the natural order. According to Krashen, (1985), this hypothesis was first enunciated by Corder (1967). It states that we acquire the language rules in a predetermined order. Thus, some rules tend to be acquired before others. This order does not depend on their simplicity and on the order in which they are taught to the student.

– Hypothesis 3: the monitor. This hypothesis establishes how acquisition and learning are used when putting them into practice. Our ability to pronounce in English grammar comes from an acquired competence, derived from a subconscious knowledge. Learning, seen as a conscious knowledge, performs a function of control, supervision, monitoring. Thus, in order to learn, corrections are necessary in order to change the result of knowledge acquired before or after (self-correction) of speaking or writing. According to Krashen (1985), it is necessary to have two conditions for compliance with the hypothesis based on monitoring: the practitioner must be consciously concerned about the correctness of his own constructions and must also know the rules that regulate them. In practice, it is difficult for both conditions to be present.

– Hypothesis 4: Input. According to this hypothesis, there is only one way of acquiring language: by understanding messages or by receiving messages that can be understood. Thus, we advance in the knowledge of the English grammar through the natural order (hypothesis 2) understanding the information that comes to us and contains structures belonging to the next stage of our cognitive development. Thus, we are able to understand language that contains concepts not acquired through context, which includes extra-linguistic information, our knowledge of the world and our assimilated linguistic competence.

This hypothesis has two corollaries:

Speech is the result of the acquisition of knowledge, not its cause. It can not be taught to speak, but arises as a result of the process of developing competence by understanding the information that reaches the receiver.

If the information transmitted is understood, and if sufficient, the grammar is also included in it. The teacher thus does not need to teach the following grammatical structure in a deliberate way according to the natural order, since this has already been given in adequate quantities, upon receiving the student enough information that he can understand.

In this way, the information given to the student becomes the essential environmental element, because it does not only assimilate what it listens to, but it gives a very significant contribution of the internal processor of language. In this sense, it should be noted that not all information given to the receiver is processed for acquisition.

According to Krashen (1985), the idea that we all acquire language in a single way does not seem very much in accord with the innate individual peculiarity of all of us. There is evidence of differences between people in many ways, which affect the way language is acquired. However, there are certain aspects that we all do in the same way and some functions that we acquire identically.

According to Krashen (1985), there is ample evidence confirming this Hypothesis, which supports the position of Chomsky (1975), according to which there is uniformity in the language faculty, so that the acquisition of this occurs in a way Similar in all people. Differences in the surface can be seen – different sources of understandable information, different strategies to obtain this information, different messages, different languages ​​- but in the background, the mental organ of which Chomsky (1975) speaks produces a basic result, a Human language in the same way.

– Hypothesis 5: the affective filter

Understandable information is necessary for language acquisition, but it is not enough. The receiver needs to be open upon arrival of this information. The affective filter is a mental barrier that prevents the receiver from fully using all the information that is received for language acquisition. When this filter is operational, the receiver can understand what it hears and reads, but this information will not reach the language acquisition device (LAD). This occurs when the receiver is not motivated, has a lack of self-confidence, is anxious, when he or she adopts a defensive position, or when he or she considers that the class of the English grammar exposes its weaknesses. When the filter is not operational, the receiver is not concerned about the possibility of making errors in language acquisition and considers itself a potential member of the group that will speak that language. Krashen (1985) considers that the filter is totally deactivated when the receiver is so concentrated in the information that arrives to him, that he forgets at times that he is listening or reading a different language.

We can summarize the five hypotheses as follows: we acquire an English grammar only if we obtain information that we can understand and if the affective filters are not activated to allow that information to be processed. As we saw, when the affective filter is deactivated and the information that reaches the receiver is understandable, the acquisition of English grammar is inevitable. For all this, we can affirm the presence of understandable information is the fundamental factor of acquisition of English grammar. Other factors serve as a stimulus or aid to such acquisition only if they contribute to making that information comprehensible and the affective filter is disabled.

The structured input

Research carried out in the last decade of the twentieth century has shown that the students' attention to the information they receive (input) can be modified through teaching. VanPatten (1992) has proposed a model of acquisition of English grammar based on three procedures: the first one regarding the processing of the input, the second one oriented to the student's grammatical development and the third one to the output or production of the English grammar. In relation to the first, (processing instruction), VanPatten proposes to alter the strategies of the students to process the information that they are receiving. Following its acquisition model divided into three procedures, the traditional system focuses on the third, directed to the output or production of the English grammar. However, in the teaching directed to structured input proposed by VanPatten, the educator intervenes in the linguistic processing of students through strategies of interpretation that are practiced in different activities. Therefore, the teaching is based on manipulating the processing mechanisms of the learner's English grammar, (the first group of processes).

A series of studies comparing traditional teaching and teaching using VanPatten’s model have demonstrated the validity of this latter method. In the English grammar production tests, students who used the structured input method demonstrated the same knowledge about the grammatical aspects as the group that used the traditional method. Regarding interpretation tests, the group with the VanPatten method showed more competition.

In the model of structured input teaching, the grammar explanation is followed by activities centred on the same. Students should not produce the studied grammatical structure. This type of instruction is called structured input since the input or information the receiver receives is manipulated to bring out specific grammatical information. VanPatten differentiates six fundamental aspects to carry out such activities of manipulation of the input:

Focus teaching on a single object. The instructor carries out a brief explanation of the object of his teaching, followed by activities centred on it. In this way, the perception of the structure taught, is given in a more simple and affordable way for the receiver.

Focus must be on meaning. The activities performed after the explanation by the teacher, are focused on the meaning and not on the form, to promote the communication pathways. It is recommended to choose topics that are known and of interest to students.

Begin with phrases in order to reach the connected speech. The activities begin with oral or written phrases, followed by phrases that lead to the beginning of a related speech or conversation.

Use oral and written input. Activities can include oral information (radio, television, documentaries, etc.) and written (newspapers, magazines, websites, etc.)

Have the student interact with the input. It is that the student understands the input, and from there, is able to continue the sense of the speech.

Consider the mechanisms of psycholinguistic processing. It is about activating the mechanisms of linguistic processing of students. It is sought that the attention during processing is directed to the grammatical structure to be taught. For this, a combination of oral and written input is used, in different order. It tends not to use explicit subjects to make the student focus on the verb ending.

Regarding the processing of the input (IP) or information that reaches the receiver, VanPatten refers to it in terms of meaning. For him, the processing of information has to result in obtaining a meaning that makes it understandable. That is their function. However, there are different types of meaning (complete, referential, relational, relative to form, etc.). VanPatten says in this regard that the variety in quantity and types of meaning will dictate the how and also when an element is processed. The processing of information based on the concept of meaning is a contradiction due to the abundant list of structural models that rely on grammatical and lexical information as a result of this procedure.

The textual enhancement

It is a concept within the theories of acquiring English grammar, introduced by Mike Sharwood Smith. This is used to point out ways in which the instructor will highlight specific aspects of English grammar for their better acquisition by the receivers. This concept can be contrasted with similar but not identical terms such as the teacher's speech, where the main objective is to make the information understandable and where the acquisition is not necessarily intended or, at least, not the main motivation.

The textual enhancement includes a series of techniques such as slowing the rhythm of speech, exaggerated use of pronunciations and intonations, increased repetition of words and phrases, use of gestures, use of bold and underscore in texts, viewing Of videos and images, etc. It also includes the use of more traditional and explicit techniques attracting the apprentice's attention to how the English grammar system works by discussing specific aspects of grammar and its use. Sharwood Smith (1991, 1993) distinguishes between external textual enhancement (based on the examples above) and internal textual enhancement, where particular aspects of English grammar stand out in a given phase as a result of the natural development of the learner escaping his control, not due to outside intervention. An advantage of this method may be that the learner is prevented from having to continually produce the desired grammatical goal.

Ellis (2006) tells us about the limitations of this method, based on the fact that it may not be appropriate for young learners or for those who prefer to learn by doing. In addition, it can be used only with beginners if the learner's is used as a means to solve the activities. This method of English grammar is therefore not an alternative to communicative activities, but only a supplement to them. Marín (2012) affirms that with this method you can learn the highlighted forms are those concrete assumptions, but it is necessary that the student learn to use them in different situations and areas so that these assumptions should be supplemented with other activities. In addition, Marín continues (2012), the highlighted forms can be perceived in a different way by each learner.

The teaching of grammar from context and discourse

It is convenient to delve a bit more into the relationship between grammar and context in the sense of trying to answer the question of whether it is possible to teach it through discourse. Supporters of this position claim that it is possible to learn grammar beyond the strict consideration of grammatical forms, adopting a very broad perspective of meaning within a given context.

In textbooks, grammar often comes out of context. Apprentices are often given sentences or individual sentences, outside a contextual framework. These activities are designed to work the formal, purely grammatical aspects of the language. But in addition to the formal aspects, the teaching of grammar has to try to explain the functions of the same. To carry out this task, it is essential to equip grammar activities with a context, whereby language is susceptible to carry out its primary function: that of communication. As teachers, we must help learners to understand that effective communication requires a harmony between the functional interpretation of grammar and its correct formal use, providing activities that develop the relationship between grammatical elements and the discursive context in which they act. In a communicative act, grammar and context are so closely related that correct grammatical choices can only be made in relation to the context and purpose of communication. In this sense, we can say that only a few grammatical norms can function fully without the influence of context.

Thus, giving students the opportunity to learn grammar within a discourse, they can learn the functions of the grammatical elements, getting to know how and why there are alternative ways to express different meanings. In the words of Morgan (1975): "The methodology of teaching grammar based on the discourse allows to study a great variety of forms and also allows to develop the creative aspect, that is to say the output, through exercises of summary, composition or solution of textual problems ". Among the detractors of the teaching of grammar through discourse, the idea is based that with this method is given more preponderance to pragmatics than to linguistics.

One refers to this as: "Pragmatics studies our way of producing meaning through the language and principles that regulate linguistic behaviours dedicated to communication." M. Bajtin (1995: 222) says "The pragmatics aims at the analysis of all the principles, knowledge and strategies that constitute communicative competence and that determine the effective use of language, based on a stable set of factors that are part of the enunciative act, that takes values ​​in each case, but that respond to the same structure. "

In our own words, we could say that pragmatics deals with how the aspects that surround us influence the interpretation of meaning. Extra-linguistic aspects of any kind: personal relationships, communicative situations, moods, values, customs and traditions, etc. Pragmatics does not disdain the information offered by grammar, but uses it when it comes to addressing these extra-linguistic elements. In their relationship, one could say that grammar offers formal, while pragmatic, functional approaches. What makes them accomplices of the search for an open, variable, broad, total communication.

That should be the vision of the language we should teach. A dynamic, integrative vision of the normative aspects and those based on the specific context in which the communicative act takes place. Grammar must be shown as a means to an end, which is none other than effective communication, taking into account not only what is communicated to us, but also what we are meant to communicate. On many occasions, misunderstandings occur, due precisely to the lack of capacity to understand the intentions, moods, social uses, etc. of those who speak to us. And that is the great contribution that is given by the context. We see its enormous importance from the point of view of the deciphering of meaning. A language can not be understood and fully assimilated taking into account only the purely formal aspects, strictly academic-scientific. With it, come different areas of action or application (contexts), in which the language is going to be executed. Goodwin and Duranti (1992) define context as follows: "The notion of context implies a fundamental juxtaposition of two entities: a central event and a sphere of action within which the event is inscribed." One conclude this section by answering this question, Not with my own words, but with others with which we are in complete agreement: "So, even at the risk of losing much of the prestige that seems to be linked to the scientific, it may be interesting to re-consider language as a concept Humanistic, without separating it from the realities of use, of the idiomatic situations, without depriving it of all the psychic and affective contents, which, although they make it seem a dubious and disconcerting object of scientific analysis, at least give us back a multidimensional, less rigid image , more complete and truthful of its nature. "

Output-focused approaches

As one has seen in the preceding pages, input-centred approaches consider that if English grammar learners are exposed to sufficient amounts of input that they can understand in a non-stressful situation and with deactivated affective filters, they will be able to acquire and learn the English grammar. But what happens, therefore, to the output or output of the student? Is the assimilation of understandable information enough for the acquisition of the language to take place?

Output-focused approaches address these issues, placing the emphasis on the acquisition of English grammar.

• The studies carried out have shown that the processing of the input comprehensible by the learner over a period of time, leads to considerable fluency in the English grammar domain. But, at the same time, they find that this is not enough to be able to reach a complete fluency and competence of said language.

Because of this situation, Merrill Swain developed the Output Hypothesis, a theory of acquisition of English grammar according to which apprentices can not achieve full grammatical competence only with input processing that they can understand, This should occur, they must produce the spoken English grammar. This hypothesis is based on her research work with a group of Canadian university students immersed in French. In this paper, Swain shows how, despite the enormous amounts of input received over the years, and had reached a certain degree of fluency, students continued to make grammatical errors in English grammar. However, they still committed syntactic and grammatical errors in this language, which meant that they had not fully acquired English grammar. The information obtained from these studies led scholars to question comprehensible input as the only causal factor in the acquisition of an English grammar. Swain concluded that the missing element was production or output, which he called understandable output, which later led to the production of the Output Hypothesis. In other words, he considered that the lack of fluency could be due to the fact that the students had not sufficiently practiced English grammar. In the context of this scenario, we turn to the three approaches focused on output.

The interactional feedback

Interaction feedback occurs naturally in the conversation when the members of a conversation try to find meaning in their interaction by correcting any errors that may occur. The main function, then, is to correct the errors that arise in communication, for example when the teacher responds to the mistakes of the learner. This interactional error correction may have a negative evidence focus, providing the learner with the example that something in their output is not grammatically correct or acceptable, or positive evidence, trying to get the learner to assimilate The correct form, giving you the necessary information. In both cases, it is an implicit feedback, such as a shift in the conversation, being much less intrusive to the object of communication, than an explicit response to error. We can distinguish two types of strategies:

Recast: this is a form of negative feedback that has been defined by Long and Robinson (1998): "is a corrective reformulation of the pronunciation of an apprentice that separates the same from the intended meaning." It is a repetition of the meaning of the sentence using the correct form, until the learner is able to express correctly.

This type of feedback facilitates the learner to focus on the wrong form in a way that understandable input can not achieve. Research has shown that reformulations are by far the most frequent type of interactional feedback.

A number of research papers consider utility reformulations. However, others point out that they are not as effective as other forms of feedback.

Elicitation: according to Lyster (1998), it is a warning or suggestion with which the teacher urges the learner to reformulate their own mistakes without stating that an error has occurred or suggesting where it may be. The teacher's response can be interpreted as an indication that the expression is incorrect or as a continuation of the conversation, in the form of a clarification of discourse.

As Marín (2012) agreed, "to provoke self-correction of the learner, directly or indirectly … it is necessary to open a process similar to the negotiation of meaning that occurs in a conversation. The main purpose of the notice or suggestion is to develop the apprentice's awareness of the presence of some error and, from there, to try to correct it. We agree with Marcos Marin in his statement that for self-correction to work properly, requires the student's prior knowledge of grammar rules, so they must be taught explicitly. Another mechanism of error correction is meta-linguistic feedback which is defined by Lyster and Ranta (1997): "are comments, information or questions regarding the correct form of expression of the student, without explicitly providing the correct form." Tedick and Gortari (1998), distinguieshed other three error corrections, respectively:

– Explicit corrections: when the teacher explicitly indicates that the expression used is incorrect, providing the correct form.

– Clarifications: by using phrases like "forgive?" or "I do not understand", the teacher indicates that the message has not been understood or that the expression contains some error, so a repetition or reformulation is necessary by part of the apprentice.

– Repetitions: in this case, the teacher repeats the error of the student, using an intonation that attracts the attention of the learner.

In relation to the correction of writings, this can not be as dynamic as verbal correction. However brief these are, it requires the teacher to read, correct and explain to the student. This explanation must be understandable, becoming an input on its output.

By its very nature, it is true that the reformulation acquires preponderance over provocation within the realm of written corrections. Interactive feedback is an essential tool in the process of learning an English grammar, since it allows the identification, application of the norm and correction of the errors that separate the learners from their cognitive development in order to culminate with a fluent domain of the language as object of study. Unfortunately, we live in a time when the classrooms tend to become crowded, with the consequent detriment of the time available for each student, which results in a very important loss in the quality of teaching.

Structured grammar focused tasks

The teaching of grammar can not be ignored in the acquisition of English as a second language. The underlying function of this is to help learners to internalize the structures taught in a way that they can be used in daily communication. To this end, students are given opportunities to practice these structures, first under controlled conditions and then under more natural communicative conditions. According to Ellis (2002), different types of practice can be distinguished:

– Mechanics: consists of several types of rigidly controlled activities such as substitution exercises.

– Contextualized: this is a practice that is still controlled, but it involves an attempt to encourage learners to relate form to meaning, showing how structures are used in everyday situations.

– Communicative: involves several types of completion-type activities, which require learners to attempt to engage in authentic communications.

Regardless of the type of practice to be used, Ellis (2002: 168) gives five features that structured grammatical focus tasks should have:

– An attempt is made to isolate a specific linguistic feature to focus attention on it.

– The trainees are provided with data that illustrate the characteristics of the linguistic trait as well as explicit norms describing or explaining it.

– The trainees are expected to make an intellectual effort to understand the linguistic trait chosen.

– The lack of understanding or partial understanding of the linguistic trait by the trainees leads to clarification by the trainer through more data, descriptions and explanations.

– Apprentices can be asked to express the grammatical rule by describing the grammatical structure.

The main purpose of these tasks is to develop an explicit knowledge of grammar. However, these tasks do not imply a repetition of the learner's output. This is because it is not a matter of training the student to use the structure correctly, but simply to help him or her know something about it. Rutherford and Sharwood-Smith (1985) stated that structured tasks are considered as potential facilitators for acquiring linguistic competence, but have nothing to do with using that same competence to achieve specific communication goals or achieve a Level of fluidity in the use of English grammar.

The general practice of grammar is directed to the acquisition of implicit knowledge of a grammatical structure, that kind of knowledge needed to use a structure without any effort to maintain communication.

The structured tasks of grammatical focus, as we have said above, are oriented to the formation of an explicit knowledge, the type of intellectual knowledge that anyone can obtain. It is clear that the construction of explicit representations of grammatical structures has a nature of limited use. It can sometimes help the learner to express himself in certain types of tests. It can also be useful for improving the way you plan your speech, such as when we analyze our expressions to improve them in a public context. However, structured grammatical focus tasks do not have much use in everyday language use. As Ellis considered, "explicit knowledge is not very useful for communication." That is why we need to achieve implicit knowledge.

According to Ellis, for the acquisition of implicit knowledge, three processes are needed:

– Realize: the learner becomes aware of the presence of a linguistic feature in the input, even if he had previously ignored it.

– Compare: the apprentice compares the linguistic characteristic identified in the input, with its own grammar that carries in mind, recording the existence of a gap between the input and its own grammar.

– Integrate: the learner integrates a representation of the new linguistic characteristic in his mental grammar.

The tasks of collaborative output

In this type of task, learners improve their competence in completing tasks assigned through the interaction between the different members of a group working together. An example of such tasks is the dictogloss. It is a technique of teaching the language used to teach grammar structures. The activity consists in the oral reading of a text at a normal speed, while the students divided into groups take notes. Afterwards, students in their groups should prepare a summary using the correct grammatical forms. Each group must present their work to the rest of the class.

These tasks encourage learners to focus on form, but also on meaning, while encouraging communication, having to work in groups.

These are very useful activities where learners must produce while developing their skills of understanding and communication with members of their group, taking into account not only the grammatical forms to be reconstructed, but the meaning of the text read. It is accepted by the doctrine in general, the meta-linguistic function of the output (Swain, 1995). This function (conscious reflection) allows the learner to reflect on their own language. What are needed are tasks that encourage reflection on the form of language, not forgetting the task of obtaining meaning .

The learners, in a communicative context, negotiate a meaning, but the content of that negotiation is a linguistic form. When you generate a text, you reflect on it, since you must know if the forms are correct. The continuous reflection on its production, produces a knowledge about the language.

Grammar and its methodology

The explicit teaching of grammar has undergone variations over time. It went from grammatical translation to grammar based on the language and its sounds. From this he turned to cognitive grammar which, in turn, gave way to the communicative methods of his teaching. The method of grammatical translation was based on grammatical skills, especially in the ability to use grammatical terminology to describe different morphological and syntactic principles of English grammar. Because of the implementation of language and audio methods, grammatical rules ceased to represent an essential part of teaching English grammar. However, oral input to learners in the form of specific dialogues and activities was well structured, following strict grammatical order according to the curriculum.

The cognitive method influenced the need for students to understand the rules for using grammatical forms of English grammar before attempting to use them to communicate. With the popularity of several communicative methods in the United States and Europe, the predominant function of grammar was questioned. In most of these methods, grammatical instruction was reduced to a secondary role, with communicative activities occupying the main role. This was supported by some of the research studies carried out.

Criticisms of the teaching of English grammar based on an important grammatical burden are due in part to the hypothesis of Krashen's monitor, which states that the role of grammar should be reduced to that of its monitoring. According to Krashen, different studies show that an explicit knowledge of grammatical forms and structures is not a necessary or sufficient condition for their acquisition. Similarly, Garrett (1986) argues that grammatical competence should be a part of communicative competence, but learning grammar does not seem to help students achieve any of them.

Faced with critical positions on the teaching of grammar in the acquisition of English grammar, Krahnke (1985) argues that much of the effort invested in the critique of grammar teaching should be better used in persuading grammarians , That it may have a new and useful role in teaching English grammar. To this same line is adhered Terrell (1991). According to Terrell (1991), research to date has not demonstrated that explicit grammar teaching is an important factor in English grammar acquisition. It recognizes that it can be useful by speeding up the procurement process and also helping apprentices to avoid certain production strategies such as omission or reduction. Terrell (1991) affirms the existence of ways in which the instruction of the grammar can help to the acquisition of English grammar:

As an organizing element advancing knowledge, which has repercussions, in helping the learner to better understand the input.

As a way to focus on the form-meaning relationship in communicative activities.

Monitoring of grammatical forms can help the acquisition of English grammar, if it is possible for learners to acquire their own output. As we have seen throughout this work, the instruction of grammar helps the acquisition of English grammar, highlighting concrete forms and impelling learners to establish connections between form and meaning.

The natural method of teaching

Origin, objectives and principles.

One has seen some aspects of this teaching method previously on input-focused approaches. As one said, the natural method is a method of teaching an English grammar, which comprises five hypotheses, of which the relative to the input, becomes the most important. This method was originally created by Terrell in 1977. Terrell wanted to develop a method of teaching English grammar, using the different natural studies that had been carried out. After the initial formulation, he began working with Krashen to develop the more theoretical aspects. Both published the result of their collaboration in 1983: The natural approach: language acquisition in the classroom.

This natural method was completely different from what was being applied in the 1970s in the United States, the audio-lingual method. This consisted essentially of written activities and correction of errors, which disappeared practically with the natural method.

The main objective of this method is to develop the communicative skills, being its main field of application the one of the beginners.

This method presents a set of principles that can be applied to a wide variety of apprentices and teaching situations. Specific objectives will depend on the specific context in which the method is being used. Terrell (1983) highlights three basic principles:

Teaching must focus on meaning and not on form.

Oral production is slow, and should not be forced.

The beginning of such production is a process that follows natural stages: "yes" or "no" answers, single word answers, generation of word lists, short sentences and complete sentences.

Lessons made through the natural method focus on understanding the messages in English grammar, giving little relevance to the correction of errors and to the conscious learning of grammar rules. This method also emphasizes learning a broad vocabulary as a basis on which to support grammatical structures.

Stages and implementation of activities in the classroom

Terrell (1983) states that apprentices must pass three stages in their process of acquiring a language: comprehension, early speech, and emergency discourse. At the comprehension stage, emphasis should be placed on learners' vocabulary. It is that this vocabulary is part of his lasting memory. According to their theory, students will begin to produce a discourse only when a sufficient amount of language has been assimilated through an input of communicative nature. When this happens, learners enter the second phase, of early speech, in which students answer simple questions, using a few words or sentence sentences, being able to complete simple activities. In the last stage, or the emergency speech, learners are already taking part in activities that require more advanced language, such as real simulation and problem solving activities.

Although Terrell created this method without relying on a specific theoretical model, his later collaboration with Krashen led him to be seen often as an application of language teaching based on the hypothesis of the latter's monitor. However, there are differences between the two approaches: Terrell gives more importance to the acquisition of grammar than Krashen. The latter's hypothesis states that conscious learning has no effect on the learner's ability to generate a new language, while Terrell believes that conscious learning of grammatical rules can be beneficial.

On the other hand, Terrell through a series of activities (1983), aims to achieve a development of oral communication of apprentices. The real core of his method is these activities, (1983: 97). It defines activities as follows, "by activity, we mean a wide variety of events, which have a purpose other than the practice of conscious grammar". These are activities of a nature different from those based on an audiolingual character or those oriented to cognitive learning. For the acquisition of English grammar to be possible, the topics used in each activity must be interesting and meaningful, so that the attention of the trainees is focused on pronunciation and not on form. It is precisely through acquisition activities, as the teacher introduces new vocabulary, provides an understandable input, creates opportunities for the actual production of the students and generates a feeling of group, unity and cohesion that contributes to maintain the affective filter at minimum levels .

Each activity should be based on a specific situation or theme, (how to order food in a restaurant). The activity may sometimes have a particular shape or structure, which must be used repeatedly during the course of the activity. The purpose of this activity is to provide an understandable input, not to teach a specific structure.

Apprentices play an active role in acquiring an input they can understand. When they do not understand something, they must know how to regulate the input they are given. Each language has ways of asking for clarification, asking repeat speakers, speaking more slowly, explaining in more detail. If these communication tools are taught in the early stages of English grammar acquisition, learners will have more means to control their own input.

It is also important to emphasize that the level of difficulty of the content of the activity must be previously adjusted. If students receive too much vocabulary or structures at the same time, they waste time trying to translate instead of participating in the conversation.

Finally, the teacher must be aware of whether the students understand what is being discussed. It is not necessary to check that each sentence is understood. It is a question of applying comprehension check techniques: direct questions, observation of whether verbal or non-verbal reactions or responses denote comprehension, etc., verifying that learners follow the course of the lesson. The effectiveness of the acquisition of English grammar can be measured by the interest of the students making comments or questions regarding the subject being treated.

Terrell distinguishes four types of activities:

– Of affective-humanistic character: these activities try to put into practice the feelings of the apprentices, their opinions, desires, reactions, ideas and experiences. These activities are based on their contents. Six are distinguished:

Dialogues: the use of open dialogues allows learners, especially in their early stages, to produce beyond their own capacity. The dialogues will be short and interesting, containing a series of routines and patterns of easy assimilation. In addition, being open dialogues, the learner can use their creativity. The function of these dialogues is to develop the student's ability to participate in them more solvency, sounding in a more natural and fluid way. The mastery of these dialogues is especially beneficial for beginners and intermediate students when it comes to interacting in conversations.

Interviews: In this type of activity, students are divided into pairs, giving them some questions to ask their peers. In the initial stages of acquisition, learners may use a single word or short phrase. The most appropriate interviews are those that focus on interesting events in the lives of students. There are different formats of interviews, (pretending to be famous people, interviews of the teacher to the students, among the students themselves, etc.).

Interviews should integrate a situation and clear themes. In addition, they can revolve around a particular grammatical structure, (past, future, subjunctive, etc.).

If the conversation is interesting, grammatical aspects will not interfere with communication and activity will be successful. Interviews are very useful for the English grammar acquisition process in several ways: they help reduce the effects of the affective filter, provide meaningful interaction, give learners the opportunity to use routines and patterns, which help the Acquisition of the English grammar in an indirect way. In addition, they provide understandable input through the language of the student during the interview and the teacher's speech in the follow-up of the activity.

Sort of preferences: consists of a statement, followed by three or four possible answers. Students must respond according to their preferences. The main objective of this activity is the conversation that occurs later between the teacher and the apprentice about the created list. In it, the students receive input, as well as have the possibility to express themselves in the English grammar.

Creating lists and tables: Building tables of information about students in a particular class, for example, can serve as a basis for interesting discussions. The teacher can create a table with the weekly routines of class members. When the table is finished, it can be used to ask questions and as a basis for some discussion depending on the level of the trainees.

Sharing information from each other: these activities simply provide personal information as a source for holding conversations or comments expressing affirmations or opinions about any topic. In the subsequent conversation, the teacher will provide the understandable input: what do you drink for breakfast? Why is coffee so popular in the mornings? In which countries does coffee not so popular?

Use of the imagination: these are activities in which students are asked to imagine a situation, a person, resulting in a situation of interaction. After a certain time, learners should describe what they saw and felt. Another technique is to ask the students to close their eyes and imagine a pleasant or unpleasant place. After completing their visualizations, students should describe what they imagined to the class or to small groups if they are working in this way. Another very common activity is to imagine a hypothetical situation and ask the students what happened in it. For example, the teacher may ask the student to talk to Lebron James and give him advice on how to be a basketball star. In these activities, the students are divided into groups in the initial part of the activity and, then, the teacher, continues the activity with the whole class. 'The most important thing about this type of activity is that the students are interested in the experiences of others and that the didactics focuses on the chosen subjects.

Problem Solving: The main characteristic of this type of activity is that student attention is focused on finding the right answer to a question, problem or situation. Language is used to present the problem and solve it. These activities are only successful if students find them interesting, either because they are useful or because they enjoy doing them. The understandable input in this type of activities is provided in different ways: normally the teacher transmits it explaining how to solve the problems raised. Examples of activities of this type are specific tasks and series of activities, tables, charts and maps, advertisements for newspapers, magazines, etc.

Games: these are mechanisms to stimulate interest and sometimes to reward the performance of other tasks less entertaining. For Terrell (1983), games can serve very well as the basis of an activity that serves for the acquisition of English grammar, and not as a reward. This is because they can provide an understandable input. Students are usually interested in the outcome of the game, with interest being most of the time focused on the game itself, rather than language. There are many types of games that can encourage the acquisition of an English grammar. For example, a simple one is to give learners a list of descriptions of themselves, having to find the companion of each description.

Content: these are activities in which the purpose is to learn something new in English grammar. Examples are slides, individual reports, presentations, music, movies, television reports, news, readings and discussions about any part of the English grammar and its culture.

These activities are used in all language classes. However, the natural method uses them differently. In the case of games, it is not simply enjoyable activities, used as rewards. In addition, they are always presented in the English grammar. Finally, they can be used much earlier than in other models, since in the natural model, beginners are not required to produce complete sentences without errors.

The contemplative method of teaching

One would mention a method of teaching, the contemplative, which is not specific to the teaching of English grammar. However, by its nature and its applications, we consider it interesting to address it, even succinctly.

The contemplative method of teaching comprises a series of mechanisms for cultivating awareness, concentration and perception. The contemplation exercise helps to foster additional ways of knowing that complement the rational methods of traditional liberal arts education. "Inviting the contemplative simply includes the natural human capacity to know through silence, introspection, deep pondering, contemplating, witnessing the contents of our consciousness. These contents cultivate a profound technology of knowledge ", according to Hart (2005).

The foundation of contemplative teaching is precisely in the attempt to encourage and help develop the capacity for awareness, concentration and perception. To carry out this task, instruments such as newspapers, music, art, poetry, dialogues, questions and guided meditation are used. In the classroom, these forms of knowledge are used as pedagogical practices in order to learn through refined attention. These mechanisms counteract the continual distractions of our daily lives. For this reason, it can be affirmed that the creative teaching methods that integrate the practice of contemplation, are able to satisfy the needs of the students of today. The contemplative method of education includes the same components found in other educational systems: learning theory, curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation of learning. However, there is a special emphasis on open awareness, which is implemented to all parts of the education system.

Theory of contemplative learning

Within this educational method, the theory of learning based on a contemplative tradition stands out. This model was inspired by a Buddhist approach to learning that identifies four stages: study, contemplation, meditation, and community-based action. In this model, the different stages are interconnected and related, so there is no marked distinction between them.

Study: this is the first phase of contemplative learning. It involves receiving and storing information not known by means such as reading or presentations. By receiving the information, the student is given a material that needs to be assimilated and understood, a conceptual framework to think about the corresponding topic. Materials are considered to have been really studied only when they have been memorized and interpreted meaningfully.

Contemplation: it requires a deep reflection on the corresponding contents. This contemplation can be done in different ways. A natural way to increase interest with a particular subject is to make it personal. Education can help learners to value other perspectives by considering different points of view. The contemplative method provides a specific mode of taking a perspective, accustoming the mind to being flexible, changing according to its own nature. In the field of contemplative learning, changing perspectives becomes a natural act.

Meditation: In this third phase, meditation brings an exceptional awareness of the process of addressing a specific topic. Meditative training is a mode of learning that entails personal instruction, according to which it is possible to maintain attention on a subject while preserving clarity. By taking a straight posture in the chair and focusing attention for a few minutes, the mind can relax. When mental relaxation is combined with constant attention, consciousness is less obstructed. The practice of combining relaxation with awareness leads to a variety of experiences.

"With the continued practice of meditation, the natural tendency of the person to think and imagine superficially becomes a way of thinking with intent, taking a break from thought," Grossenbacher and Parking (2006). By combining intellectual study and contemplation with a self-conscious awareness, contemplative learning helps the learner to access an open consciousness in a manner compatible with important concerns. Through the process of de-emphasizing the self and abandoning the need for a rigorous control of mental life, a gap is made for all the student's abilities to develop. These elements mixed with an open consciousness lead to sharpness and understanding. It is the deepest phase of contemplative learning. It leads the apprentice to transform. The way in which the person is in the world changes, embodying the full extent of what is taught. In this way, contemplative learning is not interrupted by what one knows.

Community-based action: this stage brings real contact between learners and the community. The foundation of this stage lies in the idea that when the learner works on a concrete project using several ways of doing so, he discovers a variety of facets that allow him to make more interconnections. In addition, the action contributes to a service thinking of others, which has an impact on community improvement.

Contemplative activities in the classroom

There are many and varied activities in the promotion of contemplative learning. Let's point four by way of example. One of them is to ask the students where are you now? In this activity students should remain silent, trying to relax, trying to focus on their awareness of the present moment. After a few minutes, the students can share the description of their particular awareness with their peers. Another activity that can be carried out is called deep listening. In it students are asked to take several deep breaths, to try to relax, closing their eyes if it helps them. They should take a few moments in silence to place themselves spatially and mentally. Students should then deeply listen to the reading (of a poem, idea, phrase, etc.), music or sound. The learners are asked to try to observe the images that emerge in their mind, the feelings in their body, thoughts, emotions, meanings, sounds, tastes, symbols, forms. They should simply sit and watch without issuing any kind of judgment. This activity is related to the idea that knowledge and memory are not only in the brain but in an energy information system associated with the heart. It is about taking several deep breaths and getting in the seat. As you relax, you must bring your attention to the area of ​​your chest, that place where we experience the feelings of love, affection and appreciation. You must imagine that you are breathing slowly through the heart, five seconds sucking, five seconds exhaling. This should be done several times before breathing again normally, keeping the attention in the heart. At that moment, it is about remembering a feeling of appreciation that you have for someone, a moment of joy or a significant event, attracting those feelings towards oneself. Once you have felt this, it is about extending the feeling towards you and others. If distractions occur in the process, focus on the heart area.

Finally, we are going to refer to an activity related to free writing. It begins with several deep breaths, closing the eyes and relaxing. Then, you open your eyes, and write everything you can about a particular topic (a class work, a comment about an opinion, etc.). It is about letting the feelings that we have in that moment, we put them in the paper. We have to write the essence of what we mean. Writing should be free, without concerns about grammatical, or morpho-syntactic rules, for the opinion of others or for logical coherence. Do not stop writing for 10 minutes, letting the thoughts flow, settle into the paper. These activities provide opportunities to activate, integrate, and normalize contemplative knowledge in the classroom. Adopting contemplative practice in class is not something completely new to students. It is a natural quality that balances and enriches the analytical capacity. In addition, it has the potential to improve performance in the class, character and depth of the student's experience. And most importantly, contemplative teaching helps transform the power of wonder, of intimacy, of being present, of daily learning, of pure life.

CHAPTER V. THE EXPERIMENTAL STAGE.

5.1. Pre-experimental stage. Basic tools and methods

5.1.1. The premise and the aims of the research

The main objective of the present research is to highlight the advantages and limitations of the methods in the formation and development of competences by English teaching – learning to intermediate level students. Subordinate to the proposed goal, the pedagogical experiment will take into account the following aspects:

1. the efficiency that the use of modern educational means and implicit interactive methods have in teaching – learning English grammar to intermediate level students;

2. the appreciation of the correlation between the systematic use of modern educational means and the improvement of the school performances of intermediate level students.

The general hypothesis can be formulated as follows:

• Using interactive methods systematically in the context of teaching-learning-assessment at the English grammar, one may observe a significant contribution to the improvement of the intermediate level students' performance.

The approach of didactic activities in the experiment was carried out from the perspective of checking the specific assumptions in a derivation report with the general hypothesis.

Specific hypotheses:

1. The systematic use of interactive methods in the context of didactic activity influences significantly the formation and development of competences, the ability to understand and use the specific concepts of English grammar in ways corresponding to the needs of individual life as regards the students at the intermediate level.

2. The systematic use, in didactic activity, of modern educational means influences significantly the formation and development of the capacity to understand and use the specific terms and concepts of English grammar as well as the ability to experiment and explore / investigate reality through the use of specific tools and procedures.

3. The optimal use of modern educational means, combined with interactive methods has a significant influence on the efficiency of didactic management at the intermediate level.

Research objectives

The research objectives can be expressed as following:

• to participate actively and interactively in learning, to discover new knowledge in collaboration with other colleagues and under the guidance of the teacher;

• to discover, recognize and use correspondences and successions or phenomena associated with the given rules;

• to explore different ways of learning;

• to observe and denote the effects of phenomena and use a specific language in the description of various situations;

• to form a correct and efficient intellectual work style that they can adopt in their learning activity.

Research variables

In terms of the general hypothesis, the following variables have been set for this experiment:

– independent variable – this variable is represented by the design and development of learning activities based on modern educational means and, implicitly, on interactive methods, focusing on their systematic use in didactic activities;

– Ist dependent variable : level of school results obtained by intermediate level students (grades A and B) at the English Language discipline;

– IInd dependent Variable: students’ attitude towards school and learning at the intermediate level.

Major Research Coordinates:

The research took place between the 15th of November, 2016 and the 26th of May, 2017.

Sample of Participants:

– Experimental sample: Grade A, ……… School, name of the city, 19 students: 10 boys and 9 girls.

– Control sample: Grade B, ……. School, name of the city, represented by 20 students, 8 boys and 12 girls.

The content sample was represented by:

• Curricular area: Foreign Languages

• Discipline: English Language and Literature

The learning units approached were:

…………………………………

…………………………………

3.1.2. Methods and techniques of investigation

The didactic methods applied in the context of present research have been selected so as to have the capacity to respond to the requirements of a pedagogical investigation, but also to prevent potential errors in investigation and processing of factual material. In this context, in order to confirm or refute the previously established general hypothesis I used a methodological system made up of the following methods:

-the method of the conversation

-the method of systematic observation;

-the method of analyzing the products of the activity;

-the case study method

-the method of the medium-term psycho-pedagogical / didactic experiment. This experiment was carried out in stages, according to the following phases: the pre-experimental phase, the experimental phase and the post-experimental phase.

The observation method is used to investigate and collect the experimental data according to the requirements of the type:

• formulating the exact purpose of observation,

• drawing up the observation plan,

• recording the data in a proper manner (video, audio, or classical),

• classification,

• comparing,

• reporting

• Data interpretation.

Observation can be spontaneous, scientific, exploration-oriented and experimental. This is one of the main methods of direct investigation, manifesting itself in the form of a systematic act of careful follow-up of the educational process, under certain sides, without making any changes from the researcher. The natural observation can be undertaken in parallel with the current activities, the observer's teaching staff giving him the opportunity to consider the quality of the activities carried out by the pupils, the frequent errors in solving the various problems, the typical situations in which one manifests indiscipline or inattention. In the context of this method, the observed data is immediately recorded, without the pupils becoming aware of this. In this respect, we used the observation sheet on the basis of which we prepared the observation protocol. The data gathered, after being ordered and interpreted, gave me a primary orientation on the subject of this research, as well as some methodical suggestions useful for the next stage.

The method of conversation involves the discussion of the teacher's framework, whose role is that of the researcher and student, respectively the subject investigated. This method allows direct observation and direct appreciation of the pupil's inner life, the intentions behind his behaviour, as well as the opinions, beliefs, attitudes, aspirations, interests, conflicts, prejudices and mentalities, feelings and values ​​of the pupil.

The advantage of this method is that it allows the collection of numerous, varied and valuable information in a short time and without the need for special materials and equipment. Organized from an intellectual and affective point of view, but also its placement at the optimal moment of teacher-school relations, the method of conversation made possible the emergence of the moments by which the children remained close to me. According to the particularities of the intermediate level students, we organized conversations that were meant to invite intimacy and relaxation, but at the same time, to the continuity, in order to record the child's livelihoods. During the process of the conversation, I did not write down anything about the children's approach, but later on I formed the protocol of the discussion. The disadvantage of this method derives from the possible failure of the subject's receptivity, its subjectivity, and in this respect it is necessary for the data to be completed and verified by other methods.

The case study method involves presenting the case, analyzing it, proposing solutions and testing them, applying the optimal and efficient solution. The "case study" method refers to individual behaviour throughout the social framework, focusing on data analysis and on their unitary presentation as relevant variables necessary for understanding the knowledge.

On the whole, one may consider that we have used a category of methods for describing and measuring the various aspects and manifestations of the pedagogical act in the current context. The fundamental aspect of the tools included in this group is the recording of data and findings after they have occurred. Thus, it is possible to obtain an inventory of these data which will allow the diagnosis of the manifestations and, implicitly, the improvement of the educational activity.

The method of analyzing school activity products. In terms of this method, it is possible to research the pupils' school performance and the various activities it involves. The analysis of the activities products carried out by the students gave me some important clues about the characteristics of observation, the ability to observe, understanding and mental development, the volume and accuracy of knowledge, the ability to put them into practice, general and special skills, general and specific creativity saddle. Of particular importance is the analysis of the products made by students in their leisure activities.

They show the motivational orientation characteristic of schoolchildren, as well as the interest they have in studying English grammar.

Research Tools

In order to get information about the pupils' personality, their level of knowledge and skills, their behaviours and their involvement in the educational process, we used as research tools:

– pedagogical knowledge tests;

Most of these instruments have been taken over and adapted to the content of the pupils, the particularities of the pupils and the objectives in question.

5.2. Experimental stage. Testing

The initial stage helps to establish the level at which pupils are at the moment of initiation of the psycho-pedagogical experiment, both in the experimental sample and in the control sample.

Table 1

The results obtained at the initial test by the experimental sample

The results are distributed as following:

Average at the class level is of the form: (1×0+2×0+3×3+4×1+5×5+6×3+7×2+8×1+9×0+10×0):15= 5.20

Module (the most frequent mark) is represented by mark 5

Table 2

Nominal table with the scores obtained at the initial test by the experimental sample

Analyzing the results obtained by 15 of the 19 pupils of the grade A, respectively the experimental sample, at the initial test, we can say that the module at the group level is 5, 11 grades being scored over the mark 5. In the same context, one may observe a grouping of marks on a fairly large segment.

Observing the graph above, there is a lack of 1 and 2 marks which suggests that the tendencies of promotion are increasing, but there is a deficit of 9 and 10 marks that suggests the poor involvement of pupils in the teaching-learning process. Also, since no student has fully achieved the objectives proposed by the didactic approach, it is easy to understand that success can only be achieved in the future by longer training and by giving more attention and importance to the discipline.

Table 3

Results obtained at the initial test by the control sample

The results are distributed as follows:

Average at the class level has the following form: (1×0+2×0+3×2+4×3+5×3+6×2+7×3+8×2+9×2+10×0):17= 5,88

Module (the most frequent note) is represented by the marks: 4, 5 and 7

Table 4

Nominal table with the marks obtained at the initial test by the control group

According to the graphs and tables above, the representative sample of the control group ranges around marks 4, 5 and 7. In this context, in the grade B there were 12 marks over 5, also observing here a grouping of marks on an extended segment. Also, the fact that marks 1 and 2 are missing suggests an upward trend in the promise of the initial test, but on the other hand, the absence of the mark 10 can be attributed to the lack of student concentration. Under the same aspect, no student has fully achieved the objectives proposed by the didactic approach.

According to the results obtained by the students of the experimental and control groups, the following measures for optimizing the didactic approach can be considered:

• Returning with additional information in the field where a deficit is found

• To propose new exercises and text that pupils should analyze from this perspective

• Insisting on resolving exercises of the type corresponding to the initial test

Observing the structural diagram of the averages obtained at the level of the two classes in the context of the initial test, it is noted that the control group is relatively higher compared to the experimental group. One may observe in this context an initial phase of the finding, also known as the initial test, the context in which the starting dates were collected, the level existing at the time of initiation of the experience with which the English language teacher works. Interpreting the results and the information obtained from the pedagogical knowledge test, the analysis of the pupils' products, their systematic observation and the learning outcomes, one may found that there are no very large differences regarding the two samples, as the above diagram emphasizes.

In the context of administering the initial test at the level of the two samples, the following general and specific competencies are noted:

General, social and civic competencies

1. Receiving the written message, from literary and non-literary texts, for various purposes;

2. The correct and appropriate use of the English grammar in the production of written messages, in different contexts of realization, with different purposes.

Specific targeted competencies

1.1 reading a variety of literary or non-literary texts, demonstrating the understanding of their meaning;

1.2. Recognizing the specific modalities of organizing the different types of texts and;

1.3. Knowing the correctness and expressive value of the learned grammar and lexical categories in a text;

2.1. Expressing in writing their own opinions and attitudes;

2.2. The correct and nuanced use of learned semantic categories;

2.3. Use varied modalities for expressing the text.

5.3. Post-experimental stage. Evaluation/Conclusions

The final experimental stage of this research was the administration of a final evaluation test, the subjects being the same for both classes, experimental and control ones. Subsequently, the results recorded in this context were compared with those obtained from the initial assessment.

As far as the evaluation of the results is concerned, it was possible with the help of the notes, to set the total score for each item. The next step was to compare the results obtained by each class in terms of comparison charts and those that reveal the structure.

In the context of the final stage, the following general and specific competencies were considered:

General, social and civic competencies

1. Receiving the written message, from literary and non-literary texts, for various purposes;

2. The correct and appropriate use of the English grammar in the production of written messages, in different contexts of realization, with different purposes.

Specific targeted competencies

1.1 reading a variety of literary or non-literary texts, demonstrating the understanding of their meaning;

1.2. Recognizing the specific modalities of organizing the epic text and the expressive procedures in the lyrical text;

1.3. Knowing the correctness and expressive value of the learned grammar and lexical categories in a text;

2.1. Expressing in writing their own opinions and attitudes;

2.2. The correct and nuanced use of learned semantic categories;

2.3. Use varied modalities for expressing the text.

Table 5

The results obtained at the final test by the experimental sample

The results are distributed as following:

Average at the class level has the following form: (1×0+2×0+3×0+4×2+5×0+6×1+7×6+8×3+9×1+10×2):15= 7.26

Module (the most frequent note) is represented by the mark 7

Table 6

Nominal table with the marks obtained at the final test by the experimental class

Based on the graphs and tables representative for the results obtained by the experimental sample at the final test, it can be stated that the module was around the 7th mark, and in terms of the degree of advancement, this is a good one, 13 marks being recorded over the 5th mark. As well as in the case of the final test, a grouping of marks on a quite stretched beach is noted. In the same context, none of the marks 1, 2, 3 and 5 were recorded, and two pupils with mark 10 achieved the objectives that were initially proposed in the context of the didactic approach.

Table 7

Results obtained at the final test by the control sample

Table 8

Nominal table with the marks obtained at the final test by the control class

Analyzing the results obtained at the final test by the control sample, there is a presence of 14 marks over the 5th one. In this context, the module is represented by mark 5, observing a grouping of marks on a large beach.

Also in the case of the control group, marks such as 1, 2, 3 and 10 are missing, which means that none of the grade B pupils have fully achieved the objectives proposed during the didactic approach.

In this context, the main measures for optimizing the didactic approach at both levels are:

• Return with additional information

• To identify gaps in the context of the teaching-learning process in which pupils should be involved at maximum capacity

• Insist on solving the exercises similar to the ones received by the students at the final test

Observing the structural diagrams of the averages obtained at the level of the two samples in the context of the final test, it is noted that with respect to the experimental group, the average is higher compared to the control one.

All the 49 students were given a test regarding the conditional sentence. The evaluation test was structured in relation to the framework and reference objectives of the curriculum. Objectives of the test are the following ones:

– use correctly in statements the verbs;

– recognize the types of conditional sentences;

– differentiate the types of conditional sentences;

– identify the verbs in the text;

– to differentiate between personal and non-personal modes;

The analysis of the results obtained in this English grammar test by pupils allows a detailed description of the problems and difficulties faced by the pupils in this class but also the brief outline of their strengths and weaknesses.

STRENGTHS:

After correcting the test, I found that students know the verb definition, they know the verb has four conjugations, they know how to correctly apply the verbs, identify the verbs in the text and also distinguish the conditional sentences. They also know how to differentiate the types of conditional sentence.

WEAKNESSES:

After applying the test it was found that some students of can not spell correctly. Another common mistake is the fact that some students do not differentiate between the auxiliary and the predictive verbs. And identifying conjugations has created some difficulties. Some of them also does not analyze the verb correctly.

OPPORTUNITIES:

Successful promotion of internal and external assessments during the current school year;

Successful completion of the school year and the gymnasium cycle;

The possibility to continue studying at a high school depending on the student's intellectual profile and the results of the gymnasium cycle;

The possibility of active, responsible and competent integration in the society and the labor market, and even the achievement of a successful career;

THREATS:

Corigence and / or repetition;

Disinterest and / or school abandon;

Reduction and / or absence of further educational perspectives;

The impossibility to attend a high school after the gymnasium cycle;

The impossibility of active, responsible and competent integration in society and the labor market, social and professional marginalization

OPTIMIZATION RECOMMENDATIONS:

Difficulties encountered in resolving the test require some remedial measures:

solving several exercises with the correct writing of the orthograms;

performing several morpho-syntactic analysis exercises;

making several sentences with verbs: predictive, copulative and auxiliary;

constant checking of the themes;

I have tried the items to be as varied as possible to cover as much knowledge as possible. Also, I realized as many items as possible. Thus, objective items, semi-objective items, short-response items and subjective ones of problem-solving appear in this final test. The first topics were accessible, while the last one is more complex. The results obtained by the 49 students, can be summarized as following, in percentage:

The highest percentage was situated at the value of 26.53% (the one of the mark 6), while at the opposite pole one may find the value of 0% recorded for marks 1, 2, 9 and 10. In this respect, one may consider the following:

• The arithmetic average obtained at the class level is 5.90.

• The module (the highest frequent mark) is 6.

• The median is between marks 5 and 6, respectively 5.50.

Through this test, operational concepts were verified, such as: verbal, verbal types, adverb types, noun, adjective, conditional sentences. Students 'grammatical knowledge was also verified.

Thus, according the results of certain dissatisfaction, the teacher will take the following measures:

• she will develop tables with verbal time

• she will develop texts in order to improve students’ vocabulary

• she will develop exercises on different themes

• she will increase the hours when students can practice writing

• she will develop elaborate appropriate tests

The analysis and interpretation of the data and implicitly, of the obtained results suggests the presence of a positive trend aimed at improving the school results of the intermediate level students in favour of both experimental and control samples. Moreover, this trend can not be exclusively attributed to the psychic and physical development of pupils, which is why we can assert that the initial hypothesis is confirmed. Using the interactive methods and techniques, both individually, by group and frontal, is the following:

• children have the ability to learn new knowledge with ease;

• the students' confidence in their ability to decode and comprehend the content, both individually and at group level, is observed;

• students show an increasing desire to be involved in the learning process and show no signs of fatigue as they engage willingly, freely, consciously, learning logically and actively;

• children have acquired a tinted language and enriched by various teaching methods;

The data suggests that there is a positive trend in improving student outcomes in favour of the experimental sample, in terms of transforming the teacher-student relationship into a democratic one, aligned with modern standards. Thus, intermediate level students enjoy effective communication based on cooperation, mutual help, initiative and freedom, thanks to the factual methods used by the English teacher.

In this context, it can be said that the present study was a real challenge for me, in terms of an opportunity to study both the literature and the psycho-pedagogical type, to enrich and deepen my knowledge regarding interactive methods and phenomena characterized by complexity, but topical and vital for the future. In the case of the two samples studied in this research it was found that in the first experimental phase, the differences between the average are statistically relative, the balance inclining towards the control sample, but as the experimental intervention is unfolding, one may observe remarkable differences between environments, on this occasion favouring the experimental group. This is due to the fact that the dynamics of the school performance, which the experimental group follows, contributes to the decrease of the difference between the media to the inflection point, after which the difference between the averages in favour of the experimental sample follows an ascending trend.

The qualitative and quantitative comparative approaches between the two groups (experimental and control) reinforce the assertion that the ascending evolution of the school performance of the experimental sample is strongly influenced by the final experimental intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

The present research deals with a current issue, framed in the new orientations of contemporary pedagogy, aiming in particular at replacing the grading methodologies and differentiating ones that support the individualization and the personalization of the educational process, offering equal opportunities to all students regardless of their level, thus promoting various methods with a high training potential that can lead to the optimization of the action taken by the students in the context of their own learning.

The experimental investigation supports the intention to verify the extent to which the use of interactive teaching methods and of the modern educational means in the teaching of English grammar has a particular influence on the achievement of the students' superior performances in terms of the positive impact these methods especially in the field of effective and conscious learning, but also as regards the intention to identify the limits of the use of these methods.

The approach taken in the present research presents clarifying and argumentative aspects, supporting the idea that the interactive methods promoted systematically and with pedagogical relevance in didactic activity have positive effects on school performance.

Appreciating the results obtained from the investigative approach, it can be confirmed that the teaching of English grammar to intermediate level students using modern educational means and interactive methods has significant positive effects, both in the formative segment and in the information plan.

The design and development of the pedagogical experiment was carried out from the perspective of optimizing the teaching and learning process of the English grammar at the intermediate level, the exigency of the systematic use of interactive methods regarding the formation and the development of the fundamental competences, in the dynamics of school performance segment. The pedagogical intervention was carried out in the context of the English grammar didactic activities at the level of the A and B grades. The two samples (experimental and control) were selected according to the methodology of pedagogical research while respecting the compatibility with the various requirements imposed by the objectives and the hypothesis of the formative experiment.

With regard to the content sample, its delimitation was possible by the potential of capitalizing on the formative valences that modern and interactive didactic methods have, appreciating also the extent to which the content contributes to the learning and development of the understanding, using the concepts and specific terms of the discipline of study, exploration and investigation capacity of reality. Thus, the content sample covers a significant part of the contents of the English grammar.

The formative experiment was the fundamental stage of this pedagogical research, at which level the didactic activities did take place at the intermediate level, according to the intervention project. The processing and interpretation of experimental data, referring to specific hypotheses, makes it easier to outline future conclusions.

Using interactive methods makes it possible to create a logical and natural chain between old and new knowledge; didactic units are not separate sequences, but they are inter-conditioned in a training situation, contributing to an optimal understanding of them, as they capitalize and activate the previous knowledge of students.

As expected, conducting this experimental research has given me the opportunity to see new perspectives, address other possible themes or subtopics, set new objectives and, implicitly, distinct working hypotheses, use innovative assessment tools and advanced data analysis techniques. In the same context, the process of collecting and analyzing data has given me the opportunity to know the various limits of research.

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ANNEXES

FINAL TEST

Complete the following Type I Conditional Sentences.

If you (wash)…………..the dishes, I (cook)………… dinner tonight.

If my mother (have)………..time next week, we (paint)……………. my sister’s room.

James (learn)……………. a lot about Romanian history if he (visit)…………..the rural area.

If the weather (be / not) ………………..too bad tomorrow, we (play) ………………..football.

Mary and Angela (get / not) ……………..there on time if they (catch / not)……………….the train.

Complete the following Type II Conditional Sentences.

If Louis (have) …………….. more time, he (learn) ……………..to play the piano.

If he (study) ………………..harder, he (get) ……………. big marks.

If Andrew (know) ……………… more about geography, he (be / not) ……………..afraid of the test.

I (go) ………………. swimming with Lisa and Bob if they (be) ……………. in town the next week.

It (surprise) …………… me if he (help / not) ……………Dorothy.

Complete the following sentences using the correct form.

If you need the car in the morning, I go/ will go/ would go/ went shopping in the afternoon.

If I wear/ will wear/ would wear/ wore a long coat, I would look like an old fashioned man.

I'll buy this dress if they have/ will have/ would have/ had it in pink.

Mary wouldn't pay with the credit card if she have/ will have/ would have/ had a credit card.

If I didn't have you, I do not know/ will not know/ would not know/ did not know what to do.

LESSON PLAN

Name:

School:

Class: the 8th

Date: the 12th of March

Textbook : Snapshot Intermediate

Unit 17 : Don’t panic!

Lesson: The third conditional

Type of lesson : fixation and consolidation knowledge

Lesson aims:

to raise SS’ attention upon the topic;

to practice vocabulary related to the topic;

to practice first type conditional;

to practice their speaking/writing skills;

to solve exercise from the worksheet.

Time: 50 min

Teaching techniques: dialogue, explanation, individual work, pair work, team work, exercise.

Materials: textbook, worksheets, dictionaries, chalk, overhead projector, www.teachingenglish.org.uk

Bibliography: Abbs, Brian, Freebairn, Ingrid : “Snapshot Intermediate”- Teacher’s book, Longman

PROCEDURE

1. Tell the students about why you decided to become a teacher, and about another possibility you had at that time.

For example:

‘I decided to become an English teacher when I was 25, because I wanted to be able to travel around the world and work at the same time. If I hadn’t become an English teacher, I would have moved to London.’

2. Tell the students that this was a third conditional sentence and ask them how it is formed by putting prompts on the board:

If / I / not / become / teacher / move / London

After they have given you some ideas, write the full sentence:

If I had not become a teacher, I would have moved to London.

Elicit the form:

If + had + past participle + , would + have + past participle

3. Ask the students some concept questions to check understanding:

A. Did I become a teacher? (Yes)

B. Did I move to London? (No)

C. Is this situation real or are we imagining? (Imagining)

D. Are we talking about the past, present or future? (The past)

4. For the next stage you need to cut up the sentences on worksheet 1. Put the words of each of the sentences into their own envelope and write the number of the sentence on the envelope. If you have a class of 12, you’ll need 2 sets of sentences to keep the activity flowing.

Divide the students into pairs and give each pair a cut up sentence (worksheet 1) which they must re-organise into a third conditional sentence.

When they think the sentence is correct, they should call you over to check it. If it is not correct, they must continue trying. If it is correct, ask them to write it down in their notebooks, along with the number of the sentence. After that, give them the next sentence to re-organise. The sentences can be given to the students in any order.

The activity can be set up as a race: write the names of each pair on the board and every time they complete a sentence, you can write the sentence number on the board next to their names. The aim is to complete all 5 sentences first, and so the board will allow students to keep track of how many the other pairs have completed.

5. When all the pairs have finished re-organising the sentences, you can do some feedback and write them up on the board.

1. If I had moved to London, I would have got an office job.

2. If I had got an office job, I would have become really bored.

3. If I become bored, I wouldn’t have been very happy.

4. If I hadn’t been very happy, I would have moved to Australia.

5. If I had moved to Australia, I would have become a surfing instructor.

Ask the students concept questions (like in stage 3) about each sentence, to check comprehension.

6. On the board, write four beginnings of 3rd conditional sentences and ask students in pairs to discuss how they would finish the sentences.

1. If I hadn’t come here today, I would have>

2. If I’d found £100 before school today, I would have>

3. If I’d won the lottery recently, I would have>

4. If I’d met an alien this morning, I would have>

Elicit endings from various students and write the best one for each sentence up on the board. Read out the sentences and ask students to repeat. Point out the weak forms of ‘had’ and ‘would have’ in the pronunciation. Ask students to read the sentences again and to try to remember them.

Wipe off the beginnings, leaving only the endings visible on the board, and ask the students to tell their partner what the beginning of each sentence was. Monitor their pronunciation.

Ask the students what the beginnings were and then write them up again on the board.

Next wipe the endings off the board and ask students to tell each other what the endings were. Elicit the answers from various students.

7. Give students a copy of the chart (worksheet 2).

Either read out the tapescript (worksheet 3) or use your own recording of interviews of your colleagues, using the questions in the chart, and ask the students to fill in the chart with the information they hear. Read the tapescript/play the interviews twice.

Ask students to compare their answers in pairs and then check them as a class.

8. Write on the board:

Have you ever had to make a really big decision?

Can you imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t made that decision?

Ask students to discuss the questions in pairs and monitor carefully to see if they are using the correct forms.

Worksheet 1

Cut up each sentence and put the words into an envelope. Write the number of the sentence on the envelope.

1 If I had moved To London, I would have Got an office job.

2 If I had got An office job, I would Have become really bored.

3 If I had become bored, I wouldn’t have been very happy.

4 If I hadn’t been Very happy, I would have Moved to Australia.

5 If I had moved

To Australia, Iwouldhave

Become

a surfing

instructor.

Worksheet 2

Worksheet 3- Tapescripts

1. Jack

I think my biggest decision was to move back to the UK from Saudi Arabia. I worked there for 6 years and saved a lot of money. My school offered me work for two more years, but I decided to return to England.

I think it was a really good decision. I enjoyed working in Saudi Arabia very much and had a really great time. I made loads of friends and loved the climate. But I also missed home, and I think six years was a long time to be away.

If I hadn’t moved back to the UK, I think I probably would have stayed in Saudi for a few more years, but then I wouldn’t have got this great job. I also wouldn’t have met my lovely wife, we wouldn’t have got married and we wouldn’t have had our beautiful baby!

2. Kate

I had to make a huge decision when I was only 18. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life, so I applied to do lots of different courses. I was accepted to start a course to become a chef, and was also offered a place at university to study geography.

I really didn’t know what to do and couldn’t choose between the two courses. My mum gave me some good advice and said: ‘Why don’t you just get a job for a year and think about what you really want to do. You can decide which one to study next year.’

So anyway, I got a job as a florist for a year and really thought about what to do. Finally I decided that I was more interested in going to university. But I didn’t choose geography, I chose French!

I’m really glad I decided to think about things for a year because I realised that I really wasn’t that interested in cooking or geography! Studying French made me interested in languages generally and that’s why I became an English teacher.

If I hadn’t had a year off, I’d probably have become a chef and I think I’d have been happy, but I’m happy now anyway!

3. Sue

I made a really big decision on my 30th birthday. I decided to try to lose weight.

I’ve always really enjoyed eating and didn’t use to like healthy food. Anyway, I saw a photo of myself on holiday and hardly recognised myself, I was so overweight. Well, I joined a slimming club and managed to lose a lot of weight.

It was the best decision of my life and I feel like a different person now. I still can’t believe I used to eat so much junk food.

If I hadn’t joined the club, I think I‘d have continued eating unhealthily and putting on weight. I think eventually I would have got ill if I hadn’t made the decision.

Worksheet 4 – Answers to listening

Worksheet 5

1. If I had moved to London, I would have got a boring office job.

2. If I had got an office job, I wouldn’t have been very happy.

3. If I had worked in London I wouldn’t have been very happy.

4. If I hadn’t been very happy, I would have moved to Australia.

5. If I had moved to Australia, I would have become a surfing instructor.

Worksheet 6

1. If I hadn’t come here today, I would have.

2. If I’d found £100 before school today, I would have.

3. If I’d won the lottery recently, I would have.

4. If I’d met an alien this morning, I would have

Lesson Plan

Teacher:

School: Date: March 31st, 2011

Grade: 8thB

Level: Intermediate

Lesson: Conditional Clauses

Textbook: Snapshot, Longman

Time: 50 minutes

Previous work: Second conditional

Communication: giving warnings / advice

Language focus: First /Second conditional

Skills: speaking, reading, listening, writing

Aims: -to improve recognition of the first and second conditional forms

– to use the structures in conditional statements,

– to review the structures

Evaluation: -initial through warm up

– continuous through activities, observation, error correction

– final through both oral and written feedback

Aids: board, notebooks, textbooks, handouts